North Scott High School - Silver Shield Yearbook (Eldridge, IA)

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sf gg, i Ai Ts? 2 Y ii? fi s - f, .5 2 ' - .. K -. -5,3 'MS- 5 .L While touring Virgil Grissom elementary, Stevens receives an explanation of the schools heating problems from the janitor. 5' New F Stevens tries to meet with all other members of the administration office at least once a day, to keep abreast of every area's problems. Fred Jansen, North Scott's Director of Operations, is usually the first on the list. Parkview school, he is genuinely inter- ested in surgery that the janitor has had. He knows the power of a compli- ment, and uses the term 'Amy friend freely. He mentions, very mater-of-a- factly, that lt's amazing how much you can learn from people if you just keep an open mind. He is interrupted, as he often is, by the phone. Line three for you, Dr. Ste- vens. lt is a supplier that would like to know if Robert Stevens would be interested in ordering from his com- pany and thus receive a free calcula- tor. Bear painstakingly begins his ex- planation that he cannot accept gratu- ities, but if the man would like to send him a catalog of . . . Silence. He hung up on me, Bear grins, as he reaches over to hang up the phone. l get those calls about three times a week. They offer jackets, gym bags, sweatshirts for my family. l knew the guy was a turkey when he called me Robert Stevens ', he concludes, and the subject is ended, when he wants it ended. Stevens is a prodigious organizer. Every day has a schedule and every meeting or deadline is written in a note- book that is a helpful companion. He has files for past speeches, informative clippings, and other notices. lf he can, he finishes one project before he starts another. He admits he is organized, but he says he likes to think his organi- zation is people oriented . 'tBear realizes that some people may be skeptical about his work, his methods, and his enthusiasm, but he accepts that as part of the problems of his job. The higher up you go, the more decisions you make in a vacu- um, he adds. He is not working solely to please the public, but he states, rather emphatically, that he is working for the students. He admits that some people may be taken aback by a man who calls himself Bear , but he is happy with the response he has re- ceived from the people he has met. l'm very comfortable, he says, and l like where l'm at. l'm very happy with the position. Bear does not know how long he will continue to work as superintendent, but he points out that when he is no longer working to maximum effective- ness, he will get out of the positin im- mediately. Until then, however, Bear Stevens will continue completing the duties of the position in his own distinc- tive manner. He will still care about the people, still shake hands with near- painful grip, and still run first thing in the morning. ln essence, he will still be superintendent, and he will still be the Bear. BEAR COLl.hlTFTi Rfwx tQ,..f

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X,L! e starts this day, as he starts most days, by jogging in the high school gym. After about three miles he goes home, cleans up, and makes it back to the administra- tion office by 7300 so he can read the morning papers or page through some professional education magazines, lt is the Tuesday after a school board meeting, so he has to take care of all the business the board has di- rected at him the night before, Today, this includes writing letters to Mr. Dan Anderson and Kevin Halstead, con- gratulating them on their performances at the Augustana Jazz Band Festival the weekend before. By the time he has finished writing six letters, classes have still not begun at the high school across the street. His agenda for today includes pre- paring a speech about school budgets that he will present to the League of Women Voters, developing a budget workshop for the school board, meet- ing with a teacher about contract talks, and listening to a bus drivers com- plaints, He is to spend most of the morning on this particular day touring Neil Armstrong and Virgil Grissom ele- mentaries and will stop to walk through the junior high. He's received a phone call from the high school, requesting his presence at an aud for the jazz band, so Marlene, would you call Melva Lewis at the lu- nior high to change our appoint- ment7 . Never mind, he'll stop there when he tours the school. Bear Stevens has only been su- perintendent for one year, and his pre- decessor had held the office for sixteen years, but Stevens has made that posi- tion his in every sense of the word. He carries out the ceremonies, makes the decisions. and initiates the meetings that any superintendent would carry out, but he does it with his own distinc- tive flair. He is a master of non-verbal com- munication, a subject that he has worked extensively with. He carefully uses his size, his iron hand shake, and his down-to-earth seriousness to com- mand respect. He uses his sense of humor, at the appropriate times, and his concern for people almost as a bal- ance: to compensate for his overzea- lous nature. lt is clear that he is not interested in nonsense on his time. He does monot- onous, ordinary things, that get in his way tlike opening drawers in a fast, almost furious manner, He does not like to be kept waiting. If he does ordinary things in a hurry, though, it allows him time to express his interest in people. While touring the TN AL Y ,Q V 'JUCTlON Talking on the phone takes up much of the Bears time every day.

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ohn B. had had a good clay when he got on the school bus heading home. He and the guys had really given Hoffman a hard time in English and wasn't too surprised when the teacher had given them a detention. But it wouldn't be too bad, serving detention with his friends. When John got off the bus, though, he unconsciously changed personal- ities. Now a controlled, less talkative young man took the place of the loud, boisterous kid of a few minutes ago. He would go in and complain to his parents about Hoffman, that 'Gee mom, we didn't do anything wrongl' The character of John B. is, accord- ing to educators, psychologists, and parents typical of most adolescents. Whether they realize it or not, kids, es- pecially high school students, assume roles in school that are different than the behavior they display at home. And, because of a communication gap between parents and students, par- ents very often don't know what their kids are REALLY like in high school. lf parents could see their kid at high school, they'd be shocked! contends Mr. Andy Agosta. A good number of parents' eyes would be opened up if they could see their kids away from the home setting. According to Mr. Agosta, psycholo- gy teacher at North Scott, it is human nature for people to assume different roles in different situations and envi- ronments. At home, for instance, kids may be brothers or sisters or sons or daughters, while at school they be- come friends to different people, club members, students or athletes. The two types of life-styles will require kids to act differently to accomodate both of them. l don't see how we can get away from roles, says Agosta. The danger is when the role becomes THE thing. They can distort a person if he tries to be popular at the expense of a true relationship. lt would be nice if none of us had to play roles , thinks Mrs. Kathy Bous- quet, guidance counselor, but you can't do that. School fosters the two roles, and that they both be distinct. After high school, people assume even AEE WE TAILKHN ls this the real Shelia Moeller with her friends? fl If lNTF?ODUCTlON more roles throughout life. To change that, you'd have to overhaul society. Students have troubles with roles, she says, because at that age, the role of the adolescent is really undefined. Too old to be thought of as children and too young to be the chief bread winner, the role of the student is all that is left. Few kids are ONLY students though, so they have difficulty deciding exactly what their roles are. For the high school student, then, the two main roles that he lives are very often seperated by a great change in personality. Of all the roles that people will play in their lives, Agosta says, there is the greatest amount of differ- ence between the home versus the school roles. According to Agosta, a student's roles at school can be characterized by a more pronounced use of body language, greater verbilization of their opinions, and a tendancy to assert their place. A greater tendency to ex- press their emotions, whether hostility or affection, is also customary. Mrs. Alrleen Bohlmann, mother to a senior, and Pam, a freshman, agrees. The peer group is the thing for most kids. Either you're in or you're out. Rachel, a freshman and Tim, a sopho- more, thinks kids are generally sillier when they are with their friends. There is a lighter feeling of laughing when peers get together and they can usually find many things funny. Any- thing in general can bring a laugh. A lot of kids feel better at school than they do at home, contends Mrs. Bousquet. Kids are on a more equal basis with the people around them. At home, some kids have to experience some family conflicts that can get pret- ty vicious. Of course, this is not the case in all families, as pointed out by Mrs. Nancy Cummins, mother of Penny, a senior. According to Mrs. Cummins, her chil- dren are generally more confident at home, and consequently more outgo- ing at home. Peer groups, it was generally agreed, are all too often the deciding force in how a student acts in school. Parents and teachers were impor- tant fifteen years ago, but now the peer group is the most important force, thinks Mr. Agosta. Mr. Robert Goellnitz, father of Barb, AIQUT According to Mrs. Bousquet, the student will often look for support from peers on his problems, because they have been through the same situa- tions. They look up to the really popular kids at school, when underneath, they really have the same problems. Parents often have a faulty impres- sion of peers when they first meet them, according to Mr. Tom Leavell, North Scott school psychologist. The first thing that the parent tries to determine when he or she sees the peers is 'How is that group going to screw up my kid'?' when, in fact, they don't know what their own kids are like. ln most cases, when a student as- sumes a family-home role, he has a tendancy, whether consciously or not, to keep certain facts about school from his or her parents. This, according to Leavell, can lead to a gap in the relationship between parent and child. Parents generally don't have a lot of awareness of what is going on in school. Unless the parent has a real close relationship with the kids, they take a lot for granted and the kids are suspect. The whole business of com-