Pontiac Senior High School - Quiver Yearbook (Pontiac, MI)

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1 The 1941 Quiver Page seven

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T H K 19 4 1 Q U I V E K S utice 9i ' tUei’i Motto- Pontiac High has a staff of ten janitors headed by Alec Aitken. These janitors are always on hand to keep our school clean and orderly. In the picture they are: Top row—George Provan, of editor of the Atlantic Monthly Press. Many of his articles have been printed by the Atlantic Monthly and the Literary Digest. He has had published several books on industry, fiction and has written a volume of poetry. Stuart Beach, editor of Theatre Magazine, managing editor of the Independent Magazine, editor of House Beau¬ tiful, also graduated from Pontiac. An assembly at which Major Donald Bailey spoke last winter interested many students. A Pontiac alumnus, Major Bailey later graduated from West Point and served in the army since then. He has been stationed at Panama since the outbreak of the war, and is in charge of an anti¬ aircraft regiment there. Pontiac’s Harry McBride has recently been accorded a great honor, for President Roosevelt appointed him head of the splendid new art institute in Washington and Esther Carheart, an alumna, is now teaching in Bulgaria. Among other interesting alumni we find Morrison Ryder, Robert Sanders, Harold Bowmaster, Henry Hagerman; Bottom row: Mrs. Grace Jackson, Rose Schultz, Alice Birrell, and Alec Aitken; Absent are Thomas Hyde, C. A. Plumb. a Negro violin teacher; Grace Lute, who has worked with Irving Berlin in writing songs; Goodloe Rogers, advisor to former Governor Dickinson; Donald White, a Negro architect who received his Master’s Degree from the Uni¬ versity of Michigan. There are Joseph Ripley, an engineer in the United States and China; Eva Chandler, a professor of Mathematics at Wellesley; Ruth Quine McBride, wife of Harry McBride who has written articles for National Geographic; Jeanne McPherson, who has written movie scripts for the DeMille studios and who was chosen to travel to Italy and write for Mussolini; Eugene Eliott, Superintendent of Public Instruction in Michigan. The list of outstanding alumni of Pontiac High School is imposing indeed, but an article of this sort would not be complete without a tribute to the alumni who, although their names may not be remembered, have done a good job of being a mother, a father, or a friend to the youths of their community. Looking from the top of the building, one sees a small portion of Pontiac ' s campus, including the teacher’s parking circle. On Opposite Page We can’t think of a pastime that is less profitable than bubble-blowing, usually, but just look at what Elizabeth Robbins has dreamed up. Does this mean that our faculty is no more dependable than a bubble? Never! Practically a school tradition, much-admired Mr. Dudley faces the camera with all the poise of a professional model for perhaps the last time before his retirement. We’ll all miss those oft- quoted quips, (center picture). Mr. Forsman (upper left) seems puzzled as to whether a third team is in the offing; he was snapped at the elections held last fall at Pontiac High. Seen at Pontiac’s airport, Mr. Vezzani poses willingly. Mr. and Mrs. Viola (upper right) appear to be enjoying them¬ selves hugely at the J-Hop held last fall, while Mr. Fisler surveys the crowd with interest. The other pictures (from top to bottom) are: Mr. Covert takes time from his other duties to devote to the endless task of signing absence slips. Excused, Not Excused, Truant ” The Christmas party which the faculty all attended, really produced many amazing sights. Not the least amusing of these was the vision of Santa Hartman, shown distributing gifts. All we remember of our Latin is Hie, haec, hoc; huius, huius, huius, but we’ll wager that the students at whom Mr. Kuethe is orating will remember every word; although it seems that his grin belies his stern attitude. Mr. Thors was caught by the camera at the faculty Christmas party just after receiving a gift from Santa. The popular new art teacher, Miss Carr, looked up with her ready smile just as our cameraman clicked the shutter. Page six

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The 1941 Quiver Probably the two least complete¬ ly known phases of life and activity in Pontiac Senior High School are the faculty and departments. Some pupils know only the classes in which they are, or have been, en¬ rolled and very few teachers out¬ side of these classes. “Who ' s that teacher over there?” “Vve seen that teacher around; who is he?” “That teacher looks like a peach; I’d like to know who she is.” “What teachers teach math¬ ematics?” These are only a few fragments of conversations heard in the halls, but it is sufficient to illustrate that our teachers should be better known. The faculty helps Typical of an English class is this class under the direction of Miss Rubert. Row 1— Delores Henderson, Rosalind Wainberg, Stella Backalukas. Row 2 — J. B. Huntley, Bill Hodges. Row 3 — Jessie Yalasquez, Betty Lee Seaman. Planned for Education by Helen Harger and Thelma Rice I think English is one of the most important subjects taught in high school so I’ll begin by telling you about this department. There are two important divisions in the English de¬ partment; namely, the academic and non-academic courses. The non-academic classes distinguished by the “A”, such as English VIII-A, are a detour from the classical English and are taught especially for the students who are not planning to go to college. Practical English for everyday use is taught, and the students read modern novels instead of the English and American poetry taught to the academic classes. The English IV-A classes read modern books to promote their reading habits. The English VI-A course is built around the American spirit theme, and pupils read books about great Americans, so you can see that the theme of Americanism is presented by our school to teach the pupils that our country is the very best. The pioneer spirit is the theme of English VII-A classes. Books are read by the English VIII-A students to give them a philosophv of life. These books are “The Good Com¬ panion” by Priestley, “How to Develop Personal Power” by Carlson, “How to Live on Twenty-four Hours a Day” by Bennett, and “The Turmoil” by Tarkington. The academic English course emphasizes grammar, composition, and the classics. Students learn how to con¬ struct simple, complex, and compound sentences, how to use the right tenses in their sentences and many other im¬ portant tilings about grammar. Starting with sentence structure, the pupils then learn to write paragraphs; and finally they can very easily write themes in the correct style. English VIII is a very special course taught for the first time three years ago. It deals with preliminary college rhetoric, and essays are read and studied. The students of this class write several themes during the semester and one long thesis at the end of the term. Classics are the books read by the academic English students. “Silas Marner” by George Eliot, and Shakes¬ peare’s plays, “Julius Caesar,” “Macbeth,” and “Hamlet,” are studied as they cont ain so much knowledge needed for college entrance. Poetry by American and English poets such as Longfellow, Gray, Whittier, Riley, Milton, and others are also taught to these classes. A new course taught this semester for the first time in our school is an English VI vocational English class. This is taught for boys only to give them knowledge or information to assist them in their chosen vocation. This is a very practical course in which they select a vocation and gather information about it in the form of articles, notes, drawings and pictures which they put into a scrap¬ book on which they work all semester. They also are taught grammar, learn to describe machines and tools, to write letters, to make reports, and to study salesmanship and parliamentary procedure. They acquire knowledge which they can put to use upon graduation. Another new English course is an English IV remedial course. Pupils are taught to read better in this class. “Following Printed Trails” is the textbook used by which speed and comprehension are accomplished. It has been found that pupils get a great deal of necessary training in this class. Page eight