Northern Arizona State Teachers College - La Cuesta Yearbook (Flagstaff, AZ)

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intendent G. E. Cornelius of Winslow. Mr. Cor- nelius was succeeded by President J. O. Creager, who served until September 1, 1920, when he be- came dean of the department of education of the University of Arizona. He also was a tower of strength to the normal school during his short term of leadership. On September 1, 1920, he was succeeded by Mr. L. B. McMullen, the present head of the school, who has greatly broadened the scope of work done and under whose wise and spirited direction, faculty and students have be- come one big family, working with the finest esprit de corps imaginable to make this the most human and most worth-while normal school in the western states. Possibly the most striking change in the -North- ern Arizona Normal School's appearance in the last few years has been a change in the campus. The location of the school has always been unex- celled, but only within the last few years has money been available for the watering and de- veloping of a campus. In this time dirt has been hauled in upon the rocky ledges for beautiful lawns, hundreds of trees have been planted as well as shrubs and vines, hedges have been set out, the tennis court has been remodeled, curbing and cmeent walks have been laid, wide gravel roads upon rock foundations have been built where formerly automobiles would mire in the mud. A beautiful lighting system has been in- stalled. The front of the grounds has been grac- ed with a rock wall with appropriate entrances. The front fifty acres has been fenced against the depredations of range cattle. An athletic field with a quarter mile track, 220 straight away, has been developed. and at its formal opening last fall was named McMullen Field in honor of the president, himself an athlete and an outdoor de- votee and ardent fan. The cottage city, consisting of 76 cottages, is unique. It has been evolved by the necessities of the larger summer school. Laboratories, shops, and domestic science rooms have been remodeled. The cafeteria has been added for the convenience of the summer group so that in all, five hundred people may be housed and fed upon the campus. The library has been enlarged. The new training school has been furnished and developed, and ranks today as the best in the southwest. A switch track connecting with a logging road en- ables a car load of slabs to be delivered at the plant daily. The new dairy barn houses a small E ghty S

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-14 lvw i::.,,.g, R. H. H. BLOME Ja ' '24 improvements and additions to the school. The normal school is one of the important institutions of Northern Arizona and that fact should be ap- preciated by Flagstaff. The institution has always been noted for the excellence of the work that has been done, but it is a far cry from the biennial report of 1902 made by President A. N. Taylor showing an enrollment of thirty-four pupils, mostly in high school sub- jects, with a faculty of four teachers and a train- ing school of twenty-five pupils, with a single stove-heated building occupying but a small frac- tion of the campus, to the institution of today with its buildings and campus invoiced at approx- imately a million dollars, with its faculty of twen- ty specialists, with its student body almost whol- ly of college grade, with at times seven hundred people upon the campus, not including the three hundred children in the training school. But the institution has only reflected the growth of Arizona in population and wealth. It will be remembered that Arizona was the only state to show an increase during the last decade of more than fifty per cent in its citizenship. It is interesting to read the old catalogues of the institution. According to one of these, the first class to graduate in 1901 consisted of four members-Mrs. Margaret Wallace, Clara Ken- drick, Alice Campbell and Maude Williams. The class of 1902 consisted of seven members, an in- crease of 75 per cent, which, by the way, is a greater increase than that of today. The increase for the last few years has stood at about 35 per cent. Approximately one hundred students will be graduated from the institution this year. A history of the normal school would not be complete without mentioning the big and faith- ful men of the state who have served upon its boards of trustees. After all, the board is respon- sible for the policies of the school and is the legal rock upon which the institution is founded. It is regrettable that photographs of all of these men could not be obtained. The effort was made but was unsuccessful in some cases. Professor A. N. Taylor, the first president of the school, served the institution for ten years, when he was succeeded by Dr. Blome, whose re- cent death is mourned by so many friends and former students of the school. Dr. Blome was president from 1909 until 1918. Under his direc- tion the school grew rapidly in attendance, char- acter and prestige. He was succeeded by Super- Eighty S

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Holstein herd which will supply fresh milk and cream to the dining hall. All of these things have been made possible by the co-operation of the people of the state of Ari- zona, its legislators, the board of trustees, the faculty, and the students of the normal school. The training school first occupied February, 1921, is a modern institution, the building costing 3100,- 000. There are approximately 25 children in each of the eight grades besides the kindergarten. A critic teacher is employed for each grade and each graduate of the normal school must teach in the training school for one hour a day for one year. This is rather more than the usual amount of practice teaching required, but it is one of the strong points in the required courses of the Northern Arizona Normal School. The training teachers are brought from all over the United States. Most of them, h-owever, have at some time or other come under the influence of the educational philosophy of Dr. L. Kilpat- rick of Teachers College, Columbia, who himself is a pupil of John Dewey. The training school is, and should be, the heart of a normal school. In most institutions this is recognized in principle, but denied in fact. In the Northern Arizona Nor- mal School all revolves about the training school. Music in Arizona has not always been an art. In the early days it was undoubtedly a tool where- by the discontented and morose steer was stu- pified into repose. It is worthy of note that in the last few years an effort has been made to raise the musical standard high in the Northern Arizona Normal School and to create for the peo- ple in the northern part of the state a place where excellent instruction in violin, voice and pi- ano may be obtained. It is not enough these days that a teacher be equipped to teach reading, writ- ing and arithmetic. She must have an all-around development. Looking toward this development, the Northern Arizona Normal School provides and requires training in music, manual arts and physical education. Since the opening of the normal school nearly 1000 students have been graduated. Several thousand other pupils, including those who have attended summer school, have studied here, and several thousand others have been taught in its training school. The graduates of this school may be found in many grade schools and schools of higher rank throughout this state, and because of normal training are better fitted to reap a har- E ghty Eight