Niles Junior High School - Milestones Yearbook (Bronx, NY)

Page 11 text:

GRADUATION During a liTeTime There are several disTincT occurrences upon which we should like To look back. One oT These is graduaTion. As we scan Through The memories oT The pasT. This experience has never yeT been overlooked. We Try To picTure The scene. an audiTorium wiTh rows oT seaTs. There's a murmur ThroughouT The room. Suddenly. as Though by some sTrange power, all is quieT. Your pulse quickens as The principal enTers The audiTorium. His TooTsTeps echo and seem To beaT inside your brain. As you anTicipaTed, he is sTanding beTore ou. You look up aT him and all Tenseness subsides. You are no longer rigid and TrighTened. You are relaxed and unaTraid. T He begins his Talk and you lisTen aTTenTively. He pauses and seems To look direcTly aT you. And Then he smiles, a smile you will never quiTe TorgeT. You sing The NaTional AnThem, your voice rising ioyously. Then The momenT you Teared Tor so many weeks arrives. IT is Time To receive your diploma. You're sure ThaT someThing dreadTul is going To happen. You can icTure yourselT Tripping across The sTage and landing headTirsT aT The principal's TJeeT. Oh! now you can Teel a liTTle dizziness coming upon you. You groan silenTly and whisper a liTTle prayer. ATTer 'whaT seemed like hours oT waiTing, your name is called. You sTep up and walk proudly across The plaTTorm. You receive your diploma. AT lasT! lT's all over. You see Mom and There are Tears in her eyes. Tears oT happiness. You've earned your reward aT lasT. ANNA SEIF, 9BR GRADUATION OF JANUARY, I944 Many Tine pupils have passed Through The porTals oT Niles Junior School. sober. sensible. girls and boys who will become our TuTure ciTizens. WiTh The cooperaTion oT The sTudenTs each graduaTion has surpassed all preceding ones. ln January, l944. in The presence oT many parenTs. Teachers and Triends a graduaTion was held which was beyond all oThers. The ConTaTa enTiTled The GreaT Assembly Line was wrifTen by Lou Singer. IT was enjoyed by The audience as well as by Those who performed. The sTar performers who meriT considerable praise Tor Their Tine rendiTion oT war workers are Murray Goldman and AnThony D'Orazio oT Class 9B5. OTher members oT The casT who also deserve praise are: KaThleen De Maria, Gerald Yanchik, EdiTh Beusse, Joseph lacavelli, Lillian Schellhammer. Thomas Turkman We all wish To Thank Miss Tighe. Mrs. Sueur and Mrs. O'Hora Tor creaTing such a successTul program. Mr. J. F. Conroy, our,Tormer principal, who is now an AssisTanT SuperinTendenT oT Schools. was among The inviTed guesTs. He gave an inspiring, speech. Among The oThers inviTed were: Miss Johanna Hopkins. AssisTanT Super- inTendenT oT Schools. Mrs. Anna McDade. AssisTanT Principal oT Junior High Mrs. BronsTein, Former PresidenT oT ParenTs' AssociaTion. Mrs. WeisenTeld, PresenT PresidenT oT ParenTs' AssociaTion. Mr. Francis Conlon, represenTing The American Legion who presenTed The American Legion Medal To Tormer PresidenT oT The General OrganizaTion, Donald McKayle. ANNA SEIF, 9BR -7-

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MRS. F'ERRAlOLl When I TirsT learned ThaT Mrs. Ferraioli was To leave our school aT The end oT This Term. I was surprised and sorry To hear This news. Because she is one oT our besT and nicesT Teachers, all oT us will regreT her de arTure. Having had Mrs. Ferraioli Tor Two Terms Tor ariThmeTic. I know and The oTTier sTudenTs who have had Mrs. Ferraioli know ThaT her leaving our school will mean one Tine Teacher gone. I Think ThaT even if anoTher Teacher comes To Till her vacancy. she will noT be able To Take The place oT Mrs. xFerraioli. All I can say Tor myself and Tor The resT oT The sTudenTs is We're sorry ou're leaving, Mrs. Ferraioli. Wherever you go and whaTever you do. 'Good Luck! To Youl' . ES-I-HER MELAMED 7BR MRS. O'HORA AlThough imporTanT people wiTh high posiTions usually are The ones abouT whom The eulogies are wriTTen, I Think Mrs. C'Hora deserves To be wriTTen up, noT because oT The prominence and imporTance oT her posiTion, buT because oT her Tine characTer. Though having known her Tor only a year, I Teel highly iusTiTied in raising Mrs. O'Hora, Tor as any oTher oT her pupils would agree. iT Took much less Time Than ThaT To like her. The ouTsTanding Thing abouT her was her abiliTy To lisTen To and undersTand pupils. and many was The Time I was saved Trom The secTion book because oT Mrs. O'Hora's grace. Being a devouT person she mosT hearTily believed in righTeousness and was no incompeTenT soTTie. The inTeresT which she .puT inTo her pupils was in iTselT amazing. I remember The Time when The TaTher oT one oT our classmaTes passed awa . ThaT whole aTTernoon Mrs. O'Hora devoTed To The Teaching oT how To aTTend all kinds oT Tunerals. CaTholic, Jewish. and ProTesTanT. When she walked ouT oT our school P.S. II8 losT a Teacher. a lady. and a Iover oT humaniTy. ALVIN ZIMMERMAN' QBR WILLIAM NILES IT has been said ThaT Success is geTTing whaT you wanT1 happiness is wanTing whaT you geT . Here is a TribuTe To a man who aTTained boTh. A TribuTe To one so Tine ThaT he will noT be TorgoTTen easily. His memory shall live on as The IaTe William Niles aTTer whom The school was named. We are giving The Tollowing deTails'Tor The beneTiT oT all The children who have wondered why our school is so named. Mr. Niles was born in The Bronx and lived aT his TaTher's esTaTe aT Bainbridge Avenue and 204Th STreeT. l.aTer in IiTe, he was hailed as a greaT civic leader and an ouTsTanding ciTizen. ATTer his marriage, he conTinued To live aT The Niles EsTaTe. In The year l9l3. he was elecTed PresidenT oT The Bronx Board oT Trades and con- Tinued his wonderful work Tor The beneTiT oT The Bronx. Mr. Niles sponsored The work on The Bronx River Parkway. The ouTsTanding parT he Took in iT earned him The TiTle oT FaTher oT The Bronx River Parkway . ATTer his deaTh. a rnonumenT was erecTed To his memory aT 226Th STreeT and Bronx River Parkway. During November oT I937. The IaTe Dr. Harold G. Campbell. SuperinTendenT oT Schools. made The suggesTion oT naming The new Junior High School aT l79Th STreeT and ArThur Avenue aTTer This greaT civic leader. On November IO, I937, This suggesTion was carried ouT. The imposing orange brick building was named aTTer a greaT man. indeed, a man who will live on in The memory oT every BronxiTe as well as The sTudenTs in Niles Junior Hioh Sohool- ELAINE KLEBANOFF. RUTH sci-HNDLER. .EILEEN HOROWITZ asia The pubIicaTion oT This arTicle would noT have been possible. wiThouT The cooperaTion oT Miss BuTz aT The Bronx Board of Trade and Mr. Holohan oT The Park DeparTmenT. -6-

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IN THE NIGHT The school was dark and sTilI. Everyone was sleeping. YeT one's mind wasn'T peaceful any more. IT was noT so easy To go To sleep any more. There was always The Threafening Thoughf of The disasfer ThaT nighf mighf bring. In one of The large dormiTories of The boarding school I was sleeping. Suddenly I woke up wiTh a sTarT. The shrill howling of The air raid sirens cuT like a knife T rough The peaceful sfillness of The nighf. I was noT The only one To awake. The whole building became alive suddenly. Everyfhing began To move. There was a grabbing of gas masks, shoes and coafs. There was someone puffing on someone else's shoes. AnoTher one walked inTo a door. The confusion was greaf because lighTs were noT allowed during a raid even Though The windows were carefully blacked ouT. In a flash I was ready To go. I raced down To The second floor. To The room where some IiTTIe five year olds had been assigned To my care. I called oTf The lisT. They were sfanding in a line quieTly. calmly. while I made sure everyone was There. In no Time we were on our way To The shelTer. We finally goT seTTled on The cold damp floor of This shelfer wiTh noThing buT a blankef for warmTh and comforf. There we lay. crowded TogeTher noT only To find warmTh and because There was noT much room. buf also To gain courage. Affer a while The rumbling sTarTed. The whole house seemed To be shaking. IT was geTTing nearer every minufe. IT sounded as if The whole school was collapsing buT Then iT was always ThaT way. we whispered To each oTher. The rumbling grew louder. In The disfance I could make ouT explosions. The rumbling seemed To be righf above us now. Fear was beginning To creep Through me. IT The ofhers were afraid, They cerfainly didn'T say so. My friends and I crouched wiTh our heads down on The floor as if Trying To proTecT ourselves from somefhing ThaT happened rarely, buT mighf happen now We knew The only Time a shelTer was demolished was when a bomb fell To The ground wiThouT exploding, rolled To The shelTer and Then blew iT, up. Who couIdn'T be sure This wouldn'T be ThaT one occasion. Suddenly we heard a loud crash. IT musT have been very near for This Time The shelfer really shook. IT was followed by several almosf as loucl. Then iT suddenly became very quief. The rumbling became fainfer and fainfer, unTil iT gradually sfopped alTogeTher. The raid was over. Very slowly I walked up To my dormifory. The room was in greaT disorder. The mirror broken. and ofher Things bacliy Thrown around. By The nexf morning no one spoke of iT. IT was iusT an incidenT in whaT was becoming our usual roufine. This is a True experience. ' IRMA STERMER, 8A4 FOXHOLE TIME AT foxhole Time The siren sings We grab our helmefs. don our wings And fly To where iusf like a mole We dive inTo a four fooT hole. They've come and gone and now we know ThaT iT will be Three hours or so Before They chance To come again And in we go To waiT for Their men And while we waiT we sing a song To keep our morale good and sTrong ARLENE SCI-IARGAN. 9AR .. 3 -