Nitro High School - Nitronian Yearbook (Nitro, WV)

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Page Six THE SPY GLASS THE FACULTY Front row. left to right: Miss Edwards. Miss Hart. Miss Richardson. Miss Gillispie. Mrs. Miller, Miss Pratt, Miss Shelton Mrs. Houdyschell. Back row. left to right: Mr. Leighty, Mr. Huff. Mr. Shipley. Mr. Reppert, and Mr. Snyder. HISTORY OF FACULTY Principal Walter F. Snyder came to Nitro High School in September. 1937. He attend- ed West Virginia university where he receiv- ed his A.B. and A.M. degrees. Miss Pauline Pratt, teacher in English, re- ceived her A.B. degree from West Virginia university, and her A.M. degree from Colum- bia. She is sponsor of the senior class. Miss Louise Hart, teacher of social science and Latin, received her A.B. degree from Georgia Wesleyan, and her A.M. degree from Emory university. She is adviser of the junior class. Miss Sue Shelton, commercial teacher, re- ceived her A.B. degree from Denison univer- sity. She is adviser of the junior class. Mr. Bruce Reppert. teacher of biology, chemistry, and public speaking, received his A. B. from West Virginia Wesleyan, and his A.M. degree from West Virginia university. He is adviser of the sophomore class. Mr. Fred Huff, instructor of physical edu- cation classes, received his A.B. degree from Marshall and A.M. from Springfield College. Mr. Huff is coach in Nitro High School. He is adviser of the sophomore class. Mr. Samuel Shipley, teacher of science and mathematics, received his A.B. degree from Bethany College. He is adviser of the fresh- men class. Mrs. Helen Houdyschell, teacher of mathe- matics, received her A.B. from Marshall Col- lege. She is adviser of the freshmen class. Mrs. Virginia Miller, home economics teacher, received her A.B. degree from .Mar- shall College. She is adviser of the eighth grade. Mr. Joseph Barger, instructor in manual training, received his B.S. degree from the University of Illinois. He is adviser of the eighth grade. Miss Clara Edwards, teacher in English, received her A.B. degree from Marshall Col- lege, and her A.M. from Columbia. She is ad- viser of the seventh grade. Miss Pauline Richardson, received her A.B. degree from Marshall College. She is adviser of the seventh grade and teacher of social studies. Miss Margaret Gillespie attended New River State College and received her A.B. degree from Marshall College. She teaches English and social studies.

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Page Five THE SPY GLASS ALMA MATER im —3».. . mm f'W ilk1 HISTORY OF NITRO HIGH SCHOOL Perhaps no other high school in the State of West Virginia has such an interesting origin, such a varied history as Nitro High School. Erected hurriedly by the United States government in 1917-18, along with the town of Nitro, during the exciting days of the World War, its architectural design shows the handwork of mass production and hurried construction which is also typical of the town itself. The school, built as a model, is unique in that it is all located on one floor. Every room has two exits, one into the central hall and one to the outside. The building is separated by tire walls and doors to prevent a possible fire from spreading. There are three large central halls which were originally used as recreation and assembly halls. When these became too small, a large gymnasium and auditorium combined, one of the best in the state, was completed by the citizens of Nitro. There are 27 class rooms in the building, 13 of which are used for high school classes. During the course of tw'enty years three separate governmental units and one private corporation has owned and controlled the Nitro school. After being built by the fed- eral government and operated by it until 1920, the school plant was taken over by the Charleston Industrial Corporation, a private enterprise, which operated the school free of taxes, until 1923. It was during this year that the Nitro Independent District was formed, which purchased the entire school plant from the Charleston Industrial Cor- poration for about $10,000. Now under the county unit, ownership of the school has passed to its fourth owner, Kanawha county. Another distinctive feature of the Nitro School is that the same building houses all the pupils from the first grade through the twelfth. Under the ownership of the federal government and the Charleston Industrial Corporation only two years of high school were offered. In 1923 under the independent district there was organized a six-year high school, under which plan the school operates today. Original courses given at Nitro were: American and European history, arithmetic, algebra, geometry, English, Spanish and Latin. In addition to all of these, with the exception of Spanish, the following subjects are now taught: public speaking, chemistry, biology, general science, journalism, music, typing, shorthand, bookkeeping, commercial geography, physical training, economics, so- ciology, civics, occupations, manual training, business training, and domestic science. The courses in public speaking, typing, shorthand and bookkeeping were installed this year. Nitro schools are unique in that one prin- cipal has charge of the entire system; an ele- mentary school, a junior high school, and a senior high school, with 532 enrolled in the first six grades and 374 in the high school. The teaching personnel consists of 13 teachers, 6 of whom have masters degrees. Those on the high school faculty are: Walter F. Snyder, principal; Pauline Pratt, English and journalism; B. H. Rennert, chemistry, biology, and public speaking; Samuel Ship- ley, social science and mathematics; J. L. Barger, manual training; Pauline Richard- son, geography, civics; Louise Hart, Latin (Continued on Page Nineteen)

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Page Seven THE SPY GLASS Student Council History Council President Nitro High School’s first Student Council was organized in the spring of 1938, but did not go into operation until Septem- ber, 1938. In the spring of 1938 a constitution was drafted and submitted to the student body for its approval. The consti- tution provided for a student body president to be chosen an- nually by the students in grades nine to twelve. The presi- dent must be a member of the junior class at the time of his election. Members of the student council consist of the presi- dent of each class plus another representative chosen by the class. The members of the student council representing the various grades are: twelfth, James Cook, James Dorman; eleventh, Ralph Wallace, Nancy Hammond; tenth, Robert Johnson, Rosalee Mattox; ninth, Jean Shomo, Frances Gaylor; eighth, Robert Dorman, Doris Woods; seventh, Margaret Inge and Reba Skaggs. Two of the original members who moved away, Paul Mun- day and Bill Brooks, were replaced by Ralph Wallace and Bob Dorman and Robert Johnson. The council sold pencils with the basketball schedule printed on them and shields in the high school colors in order to raise money. Some of the things accomplished this year are: selection of the “Best School Citizen”; season tickets for basketball; an assembly plan for getting students to assembly quickly; a hall traffic plan to eliminate disorder in halls; establishment of the Lost and Found department; and selecting of the school cheer- leaders. JAMES COOK, Jr. STUDENT COUNCIL First row left to right: Margaret Inge, Nancy Hammond, Reba Skaggs. James Cook. Frances Gaylor. Jean Shomo. Second row, left to right: Rosalee Mattox. Mickey Wallace, James Dorman. Bob Johnson, Robert Dorman, Doris Woods.