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

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ATP the first World War, as did another pred- ecessor of the Stunt Show, the annual Spring Carnival, which made quite a lot of money for the school and was popular with adults as well as students. Aside from academic subjects, very much the same as now, vocal music, some instrumental music, cooking, sewing, and woodshop were offered. After an auto mechanics shop had been built in 1923, a course in that subject was also offer- ed. An amendment providing for the starting of the co-op store was adopted in 1920, and the next year the school song, “Hail, Paly Hi,” was written by Clarence Carey. In the same year the faculty first considered join- ing the California Scholarship Federation. Crowning of May Queen was another im- portant event, and in 1923, the contestants for the honor included, in addition to four students, Misses Huntington and Preston. 1924 brought much discussion about high school dances, especially on the subjects of chaperons, instructors, more mixing, and the admission of Stanford “‘roughs”. Palo Alto Union High School included a junior college in the years 1927 and 1928, but the idea was doomed to failure from the start, being opposed by Principal Nichols, and was finally abandoned for lack of funds, and rejected once again only a short while ago. In May, 1936, after Walter H. Nichols’ death in 1935, Mr. Ivan H. Linder came to us from Sacramento, highly recommended, and has been principal since that time. Changing the school colors from red and green, adopted from the Madrono Tree so long ago, to green and white, was first con- Football team with Mr. Jungermann as coach. sidered in 1935, but the idea was defeated then as it was this year, when put before the student body. It was also in 1935, with the completion of David Starr Jordan Junior High School, that our freshman class left. Intense interest in national affairs, due in part, to the depression, promoted the found- ing, in the later thirties, of several political clubs at Paly, but all have since disappeared —probably war casualties. And in 1938 our own ‘Lil Viking” made his first appearance, created by the pen of one John Kemper. Some of the original “Lil Viking’ cuts still find their way into our various publications. With the advent of World War II, a ground aviation course was begun in 1941, followed by the rejuvenation of the cadet corps. Besides constructing many model planes for the government, and participating in many other war activities, Paly students in 1943, raised $190,498.60 in War Bonds, which was more than enough to allow them to ‘buy’ a real medium bomber and have it named ‘Lil Viking.’ A photograph of the plane was presented to Mr. Linder by the government. This history of Palo Alto High School would not be complete without mentioning a few of the notables who attended our school throughout the years. Among them were Col. Henry Godman, a Paly swimming champ who was General Douglas Mac Arthur's flying chauffeur during the war; Henry Varnum Poor, the noted New York artist; tax expert, Dr. Carl Shoup; writer, Earle Stanley Gardner; and Clarence Dirks, football All-American, who captained Paly’s team in 1923. Volleyball in the “good old days.” ae