North High School - Polaris Yearbook (Minneapolis, MN)

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THEN AND NOW dcncy of the present times to adapt the school to national growth. With the introduction of new subjects, the number of teachers has increased from thirteen to eighty-eight. It has been only since we entered this building, and in fact, only since the time of the fire in 1914, that we have had any lockers. Strange as it may seem, before that time we had. adjacent to the various rooms, the old fashioned cloak rooms. We never thought of loss by theft. At first. North High had two janitors; we now have twelve and sometimes more, as this school is a training school for janitors under the guidance of the engineer of this building. In the early days, the principal had no clerk or assistant principal but kept all the records and made all the reports himself. Afterward, when he got one clerk, he thought he had all he could possibly hope for; hut now we have developed to the point where we have an assistant principal, a home visitor, and four clerks in the office. More than six thousand young people have gone from our doors as graduates to enter all walks of life. Many have distinguished themselves, and it is to he hoped that many others will follow in their footsteps. The ideal of the school at all times has been to encourage young people to he better citizens, capable of real initiative, and able to assume their full share of responsibility in life. From the days of the two literary societies for Seniors and Juniors in 1892, known as the Senior and Junior Philomathian societies to the forty organizations of all sorts of today, we have developed a true spirit of friendliness and companionship. It may be interesting to know that these literary societies, one conducted by the Juniors and the other by the Seniors, were strictly literary; that is, their programs were made up of essays, debates, recitations, orations, and music. There were no other organizations such as there are now; and it seems strange that as this demand for other organizations increased, the original literary societies have disappeared. My best wishes go with the six hundred young people from the January and June classes of this school year, graduating into whatever work they may enter. May it be true service to make others better and happier. This class has set a high mark in this year’s book for others to follow, and its pages will furnish inspiration to all who may read them. My best wishes to the classes of 1927!!!! fife . 40 Stventeen

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THEN AND NOW JANUARY, 1889 and June, 1927 mark the boundary of the “Then and Now” of North High. The period from the book “Walla-ka-zoo” in 1906 to this year book of 1927 covers the publication of annuals. During this lime, a history has been written which we trust may continue for many years to keep in our minds the school motto, “Animo non Astutia (Through courage, not deceit). The story of the beginning of North High has been told in the book “Walla-kazoo,” and since June, 1910. in the annuals published each year. From a school which enrolled 170 high school pupils and all grades from the first to the eighth, to the present year's enrollment of nearly 2,400 of senior high school grade is a wonderful growth in the last thirty-eight years. The graduating classes have grown from sixteen members to nearly four hundred. The school's ideal has been not to imitate and follow others but to blaze a trail of its own. North High points with pride to the fact that it was the first school to have the departmental plan of instruction, a forerunner of the junior-senior high school idea. When North High first took possession of the school building on the present site, the school was so small that four rooms on the first floor were given over to the eighth grade, which was organized into classes under teachers just as the junior high schools are now; that is, one teacher had all the history; another, the arithmetic; and so on. As the school grew, the eighth grade was taken out; now even the ninth grade is cared for in the junior highs. It was the first school to have its own athletic field and lunch room service, and is at present the only regular senior high; that is, a high school having only the upper three y€ ars work and taking pupils from the junior high schools at the close of the ninth grade. file growth of the school plant or building began with the old Logan School, 'file first section of the new school was built on one side of the city block which it now-covers entirely. The interesting fact is that while the present building consists of the main building facing on Fremont, rebuilt after the fire of 1914 with the additions of the South Wing. North Wing, Auditorium and Gymnasium Wings, the greenhouse, the automotive addition, and finally the northwest addition; yet if it had been built at one time, it could not have been planned to much belter advantage. When North High was established, there were no such subjects as gymnasium, Swedish, Norse, economics, commercial subjects, Spanish, auto mechanics, or news; but we did have classes in Greek. Greek disappeared many years ago; and the other subjects named above appeared in about the order given, showing the ten- Sixieet i

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STUDENT COUNCIL Milton Bacii................................President Ethel Harrison..............................Vice-President John Finn.............................. .... Secretary THE Student Council, an organization composed of the presidents of all school clubs, was very active in furthering the interests of the school. It was organized in 192-1 for the purpose of handing the various clubs of the school together so that they might aid in developing the growth of the student body and in making North a finer school. Two of the big accomplishments of this body were the “Greater North” and “Clean Life’ campaigns which it sponsored in co-operation with North Side branches of the Y. M. C. A. and the Y. W. C. A. These campaigns were held last year and the year before. At the first meeting of the fall term, Mr. Ilobbs gave a brief talk in which he outlined the purpose of the council. The presidents of thirty North High organizations were present. The whole of the second meeting was devoted to the election of officers. Milton Bach was chosen chairman; Ethel Harrison was made vice-president; Ezra Osterhus, sergeant-at-arms; and John Finn, as editor-in-chief of the Polaris Weekly, the ex-officio secretary. At the last gathering in the 1926 semester, the North Council decided to try to re-organize the all-city student council which had disbanded the year before. Accordingly, an invitation was sent to the other schools, and a meeting attended by sixteen representatives from the eight senior highs in the city, was held at North. 'Hie meetings of this organization arc not held at any stated time. In spite of the fact that as yet the Council has not reached the goal that it has set for itself, it hopes to become a stronger factor in the life of the school. Back Row— SicMKRt, BttNui. E. Kmcht, Wahl, Mnur. Putnam. Kun, Sjoianoih. Brain trtlN, ClUIN. PlAXrt Middle Row—Blake. Michomx. Lie. Sr mix. Liemandt, Daw . KrNNi.sc. Johnson. R. Omim«. I)jil. As»m . Aimr Front Rouv—Lane. H. Ovmiur. Dinn, Kaklan, Harkiaon, Birru. Rhine., Finn. Annkraon Eighteen