Oak Bluffs High School - Beacon Yearbook (Oak Bluffs, MA)

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8 g gg THE BEACON of 1360 miles in 15V2 hours. In June, 1927, with three compan- ions, Byrd flew from New York to the coast of France, a distance of 4200 miles, in 42 hours. Tl1c most complete polar expedition the world has ever known got under way when Admiral Byrd sailed from San Pedro, California, October 11, 1928, bound for Dunedin, New Zea- land, on the first leg of his South Polar Expedition. He arrived finally at the Antarctic without loss of ship or men and founded Little America. Admiral Byrd, accompanied by Bernt Balchen, Captain Ashley McKinley, and Harold I. June, started out in his big tri-mo- tored cabin monoplane to fly over the South Pole. Just as observations indi- cated that they were exactly over the South Pole, all hands stood and salut- ed the memory of Floyd Bennett, who h-id 2'lCC IYlp2llll0d Byrd to the North Pole, and would have gone with him to the South Pole, if death had not intervened. At the same time a trap- door in the bottom of the fuselage was opened and through it a silk American flag. weighted with a stone carried from lfloyd Bennett's grave in Arling- ton Uemetery, was dropped. They al- so dropped a British Hag in memory of Captain F. Scott, a Norwegian flag in memory of Captain Roald Amund- sen. and a French flag in tribute to the people who l1ad been so kind at the end of Byrd's trans-Atlantic flight. Nothing that we could say about our 111119178 character could speak stranger for him than the record of his active alld useful life, which we have, in part, discussed here. Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd has certainly exemplified our Class Motto, We Will find a path or make one! THE COVER Probably the first Beacon to car- ry a picture of the Oak Bluffs School on the cover was published by the Class of 1931. The class thought that possibly it would be the last class to graduate from the old building since there was a new building rumored. Well, no new building has yet come, although two classes have since grad- uated from the same building. Again this year we, the Class of 1934, might possibly be the last to graduate from this building, but that is not sure, of course. One thing that We are sure of, however, is that we are the first class to graduate from the renovated building! Thus we place on our cover this reproduction of our school, just before it was so well renovated. SPEAKING CONTESTS In 1930 Mr. Merrill organized tne first public speaking contest in our school. There were nine contestants that year, six girls and three boys. There were no separate girls' and boys' prizes. But rather three prizes were awarded to the three best speak- ers of the group. The girls walked away with all three prizes! The fol- lowing year Mr. Merrill changed the contest somewhat. Twelve students participated instead of nine. There were two sets of prizes, first, second, and third for the girls and first, sec- ond, and third for the boys. Again in 1932 the contest was changed. Only ti n contestants, five boys and five girls, participated this year. This arrange- ment was considered the best and has been followed for the last three years. The great value of public speaking cannot be questioned. Therefore, the Oak Bluffs students should be proud in carrying on a fine speaking contest. every year. Every student in the high school is required to try out-thus ev- eryone has a chance. The five best. boys and the five best girls are chosen to compete in the finals. That the speaking contests are greatly appreciated by the townspeo-

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THE BEACON 7 l Zillililtlildlfitii Baron Denn RICHARD EVEIJYN BYRD If you will turn to our Class Will, you will see the following statement which concludes our will: 'WVe, the class of 1934, having a passion for be- ing original, l1ave above signed our names in evidence of this. lVe might also say here, this: lVe, the class of 193-1, having a passion for being original, have chosen as our class mod- el a man who is living---Admiral Rich- ard Evelyn Byrd. Admiral Byrd, unlike so many of us, is able to trace his lineage a great many years back. He is a direct de- scendant of XVilliam Bird, who came to America i11 1674. Byrd was born .in Winchester, Virginia, October 25, 1885, the son of Richard Evelyn Byrd, a prominent Virginia attorney, a11d Eli- nor Bolling Flood. Ile is o11e of three brothers-all of whom have achieved tame. It is interesting to note that since Byrd's brothers are named Thom- as B. and Harry Flood, they are known to their intimate friends as Tom, Dick a11d Harryw. VVhen Dick Byrd was o11ly twelve years old he XV011t unaccompanied on a voyage around the world in a Brit- ish tramp schooner. Upon his return home he entered tl1e Shenandoah Val- ley Militiry Institute, and later at- tended the Virginia Military Academy at Lexington, and the University of Virginia. Ile graduated from the Unit- ed States Naval Academy at Annap- olis, Maryland, in 1912. He married Marie D. Ames, of Boston, Massachu- setts, January 20, 1915. They have is ton, Editor three daughters and a son, Richard Jr. VVhile Byrd was still a junior of- ficer, in 1916, he stepped on a nail and the resulting infection has given him a permanently stiff foot. On that account he was retired from active service, for disability, although he continued to perform the actual du- ies of an active oiicer. Ile was promot- ed to the rank of Lieutenant Com- mander in 1922, and in 1927 he was given a commission as Commander, dating from May 9, 1926, when he made his flight over the North Pole. Ile was commissioned Rear-Admiral on the retired list of the Navy in rec- ognition of his explorations of the South Polar region. Byrd learned to Hy at Pensacola, Florida, i11 1917, and was one of the first officers to make night Hights. In 1918 he was sc11t to Canada to com- mand the United States Naval Forces in Canadian waters during the Worlrl Vtfar. He established the Naval Air Reserve stations and organized reserve personnel i11 1924. Since 1917 he has made important contributions to the science of aerial navigation. In June, 1925, Byrd ac- companied Lieutenant Command-Jr Donald B. MacMillan on his North Pole expedition, as commander of the navy fliers. In the following year, with Floyd Bennett as pilot, he made the first flight in an airplane over the North Pole and back to the base at Kings Bay, Spitzbergen, covering a distance

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THE BEACON 9 ple-and even people from the other towns--is very apparent from the enormous number who turn out every year, the hall is always filled long bc- fore the contest is ready to begin. Besides thoroughly entertaining all those who attend them, the speaking contests are valuable for many more reasons. First, they foster the spirit of competition. A student must com- pete even to enter the contests. Sec- o11d, they train the memory. The more one learns, the more he is able to learn. Speaking contests students must memorize their pieces thoroughly. This sharpenstheir memory, and it al- so exercises and strengthens it, so that it may do even more work. Third, speaking contests teach students to take good care of their voices and health i11 general. We believe that contestants catch fewer colds during the training period than during any other time of the year. If they do catch colds, it is seldom through care- lessness. Fourth, speaking contests teach students to face the public. Af- ter competing a few times a student loses all traces of stage-fright- A consummation devoutly to be wished! ' Fifth, speaking contests teach stud- ents to inte1'pret correctly whatthey read. f No contestant can take a prize ex- cept he interprets his' piece as it should be interpreted. He must be able to put himself in the place of the per- son speaking. Sixth, speaking con- tests teach students to hold themselves in erect positions and to avoid all signs of nervousness. Seventh, speak- ing contests teach students to pronun- ciate words so that those around them understand the nature of all the char- acters i11 his selection. In speaking hc must understand the nature of his audience. He must quickly compre- hend why o11e joke didn't go over and the other did. He must watch facet. to see if his listeners have to strain to catch his words. He must under- stand human nature so that he may know where to raise his voice to a roar and where to whisper. He must understand human nature to know where to pause in his speaking. This may be able to understand what they say. Eighth, speaking contests teach ple think. We think that the un- derstanding of human nature is the art is more important than most peo- students to understand human nature, for a good speaker must be able to most important requisite of a good speaking contestant. Ninth, speaking contests teach students to think on their feet! This may seem incredible, at first, but it is true. All speeches may 11ot be memorized. Impromptu speak- ing does not call for a speech to flow from the memory. But even in a speak- ing contest where selections are mem- orized, a prize-winner must know how to think on his feet, for no matter how well one knows his piece, there is still a great chance of his forgetting something, but if he has the ability to think on his feet he may fill in the gap and the audience and even the judges would never know the dif- ference. We have seen this done. No doubt we have omitted evcn more values of speaking contests, yet we feel that we have explained the outstanding ones. Then, speaking con- tests are important and valuable bc- cause they entertain those who at- tend, encourage competition, improve the memory, improve the voice and health in general, teach students to face the public, teach students to in- terpret and understand correctly what they read, teach them to maintain erect postures and avoid signs of ner- vousness, teach students to pronounce clearly and correctly, teach them to understand human nature, and last but not least, speaking contests teach students to think on their feet!