Newport News High School - Anchor Yearbook (Newport News, VA)

Page 30 text:

% e Z ' lt ' ix ' ie ' i ' LeA 6u i 1 Uaucflit ' i 9n ' Wa ' idd, We are really proud of our drama and speech department, Uncle Sam, for besides producing plays, the drama and speech students served as models for other schools. Schools without a drama department were referred to ours, and we are proud to say the drama department has the reputation of being one of the best in the nation! Dur- ing the year, groups of teachers from eight different schools came to watch our stu- dents in action! A drama clinic was held at the school in January for the Norfolk and Newport News district. Before the seven schools rep- resented here, the drama students illus- trated make-up techniques, and turned actors and actresses for directing demon- strations. For the first time in the history of the school, Uncle Sam, both of the senior class night plays were written by two of the sen- iors. These plays were class projects in Drama 4, where the advanced students studied play-writing. Before students reach the play-writing stage, however, they must have speech classes where they study such things as cor- rect posture in speech making, and how to put both their audiences and themselves more at ease during a speech. Our ad- vanced speech class became so good that it presented a series of radio programs for the Family Counseling Service. HAVE YOU EVER NOTICED, Uncle Sam, that correct posture seems to make a speech easier to deliver and easier to listen to? Really, it does! MINIATURE STAGE SETS saved time, energy, nerves and patience when our dramatists were ar- ranging scene plots for a play. 28

Page 29 text:

7a Slw iltand And tyfxinCf, Colly, I hope I can get my certificate today. This is what you ' d hear among shorthand and typing students. Speed cer- tificates are required for a passing grade on both these subjects. Upon completion of two years of short- hand, the student must be able to take dic- tation at the rate of at least one hundred words per minute. The Typing 3 students are required to make their intermediate certifi- cate of forty-five words per minute for fif- teen minutes before they go into Typing 4. Lucky bookkeeping students did not have to bother with certificates, but they had to learn to balance a set of books! All of the shorthand students since 1942 that have wanted jobs have been placed by the department. Many of these students earned their basic experience by serving as secretaries to members of the faculty. The motto for these girls is practice and more practice. WE FOUND OUT, Uncle Sam, that you have to be practically a math wizard in order to master the course in bookkeeping offered at our high school. FROM CLASSROOM TO OFFICE is the story for many of our advanced typists, whose services are always in demand in local business concerns. 27

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l u£ Oust £motia vi 9ft Mfuiic OUR CHORAL GROUPS are made, not just put together, and rehearsed for hours at a time. Their training began in re- quired classes for the eighth graders. Long hours of work and practice have cer- tainly reaped well-earned rewards for both our chorus and our band, and we ' re proud of them. These two organizations received su- perior ratings in the District Two Music Con- test, held in the high school this spring. You should have heard them in action! Uncle Sam, the required vocal music classes, and a band group, combined forces and pro- duced the cantata, The Legend of Sleepy Hol- low, which was based on Washington Irving ' s famous folk-legend. The month of May was a busy one for the PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT, as this young flutist will tell you, Uncle Sam. In the near future, if she meets the re- quirements, she may become a member of our fine band. music department, full of the spring concert, the junior and senior band concert with the elementary school groups, and a trip to the state band contest in Charlottesville. Because they have studied hard and prac- ticed even harder, the music students have provided enjoyable entertainment for all their audiences. 29