Palo Alto High School - Madrono Yearbook (Palo Alto, CA)

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rounded on three sides hv recitation rooms and the auditorium, and on the other by an arcade. From the highway it looms like a very hos- pitable, modern mission. In the front the beautiful terrace and the massive doors give just the needed touch of stateliness and impressive- ness. A more ideal location for this beautiful new building could not have been found than the one where it stands, among beautiful oak- trees and fields of grain. The central idea of the new high school is embodied in the library. It represents the old education so successfully combined with the new social life of the school, and it is in this room that the trustees, hoping that it would be the center of school life, have set their seal. The library is located opposite the business office, two steps down, with only a glass between the halls and the attractive interior, so that the most indifferent person may at least see the outward beauty of books and be tempted to come into closer contact with them. The school is not as yet completed. War conditions are largely re- sponsible for this, although under any circumstances it could not have been finished immediately. The auditorium is incomplete. The girls’ gymnasium, the swimming pool, and the forge and machine shops could not be included. Although the finishing of the present high school seems a large problem, the necessity of a junior college in the near future makes it a tremendous task. The possibility of expansion was seriously considered when the ar- rangement of the school was laid out. Several classrooms have already been sketched on the plan. It will be possible to add to the school to accommodate fifteen hundred pupils without marring the architectural effect of the buildings. The central idea of the new school is to make it as democratic as possible. Two new institutions of the school express this especially. One is the cafeteria and the other the commission form of government. W hen the school was first planned, the distance from Palo Alto made lunches necessary. To make it more convenient, the cafeteria was es- tablished. For the first two weeks Miss Johnson and her cooking class did all the cooking and serving, but it interrupted the cooking course so much that a woman was engaged to do the major part of the cook- ing. The girls still help and do the serving. The members of the cooking class have developed a fine spirit of service in helping serve each noon. The cafeteria has been an excellent opportunity for an ex- pression of democratic, unselfish spirit among the girls. 13

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It was then that the union of Palo Alto, Mayfield and Stanford was suggested. The project was revived in 1915, but for a time it seemed improbable that any immediate result would be realized. This was because of the disturbing question of a suitable and available site. It was successfully settled when President Wilbur of Stanford, acting for the Stanford Uni- versity trustees, offered to lease a piece of land, about thirty acres, to the proposed union high school district for 99 years with a nominal rental, and with the privilege of renewing the lease on the same terms for another period of 99 years. The lease also provided the opportunity of purchasing the land for $1,000 an acre at any time during the life of the lease. On the evening of Mav 1, 1916, a meeting of the trustees of May- field. Stanford and Palo Alto was held in the high school bungalow. They unanimously adopted the resolution to accept the offer of the Stan- ford trustees through President Wilbur as the most feasible plan of en- larging the Palo Alto High School, and pledged themselves to use their influence to bring about its adoption by the voters in their respective districts. In July, 1916, a month after the Palo Alto Union High School dis- trict was formally declared in existence, an election of the trustees, who were to see through the building of the new high school, was held. The Rev. Walter Hays, Prof. Sidney D. Townley, Mrs. Adelaide M. Coburn, Alexander M. Cuthbcrtson and Alfred Scale were elected. At the resignation of Mr. Seale, Harry L. Haehl was appointed to his place. Since arrangements had been immediately made for the revision of the Palo Alto school district for the benefit of the elementary schools, this hoard was confronted with the problem of providing new buildings as soon as possible. On January 27, 1917, a bond election for $200,000 was carried by an overwhelming vote. In December, 1917. ground was broken for the new buildings 011 the present site. War conditions ham- pered the work greatly, hut thanks to the architects, Allison Allison, the superintendent of construction, W. E. Kleinpell, and the co-opera- tion of contractors and workmen, the building was turned over to the trustees, and, on the 24th of December, 1918, the school marched down in a body to take possession of their splendid Christmas present. The new school is built in the Mission form of architecture, com- bined with the Italian Renaissance, with a court in the middle, sur- 12

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Another democratic institution is the commission form of govern- ment which was established last year. This government is more rep- resentative than the former one. It provides for five commissioners filling the following offices: Public Welfare and Safety, Literary Activi- ties, Athletics, Entertainment, and Finance and Revenue, who are elected by the members of the student body. The commissioners take turns acting as the presiding officer at board and student body meetings. This is the first year of tins type of government and consequently it has been more or less of an experiment. The result has been very satis- factory, due largely to the ability of those five persons who are Palo Alto High’s first commissioners. They are all seniors and will gradu- ate this year. The record of the Palo Alto High School has been remark- ably fine in past years. The future is left to those commissioners and classes who shall in the years to come take their places in our beautiful new school. LYSLE BLYTHE. The Library 4