Sacramento City College - Pioneer Yearbook (Sacramento, CA)

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The Co-operative Store The idea for the Student Cooperative Store of Sacramento Junior College was conceived and developed in the fall semester of 1922. A committee was appointed, with Charles Busick as chairman and also as the rest of the personnel, which waged a discouraging, uphill battle. The Board of Educa¬ tion, heading the merchants ' opposition, at first flatly refused to consent to the plan. Busick overcame the impossible by moving Mohammed ' s mountain: selling the idea to the merchants themselves. Then, with the merchants behind him, he again appeared before the Board and secured their assent. Recognizing the committee ' s worth, the College selected him as the first Co-op manager. Paul Bruton was added as his assistant and the pair fitted up the little room at the base of the main stairs in record time. Then 22

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Sophomore Class First Semester The Sophomore class felt a great responsibility for the incoming Fresh¬ men. Believing that they should give the newcomers an object lesson in the advantages of a College education, they selected as their leading educator and president the spell-binder, Paul Bruton. He was ably assisted in his educational program by Vice-President Charlotte Krebs and Treasurer Wilmer Morse. The Sophomores sent out their football veterans to form the nucleus around which was built the Junior College team. The Sophomores also set the Freshmen an example of good hard work in putting over the carnival, not only in management, but also in their notorious Tixe con¬ cession (read it backwards). In basketball, dramatics and debating, too, the Sophomore class continued its good work. Although outnumbered two to one, the Sophomores kept their educational melting pot bubbling merrily and at the semester ' s close, were rewarded by the thoroughly assimilated product, two hundred and thirty-five loyal-to-the-core Sacramento Junior College students. Second Semester The Sophomore class of the second semester, greatly encouraged by their previous successes, did not slacken their educational program in the least. Although not deeming advisable such stern measures as they employed in the first semester, the Sophomores refused to relinquish the leadership of educating the College. To engineer them through the final semester, they decided upon Gerald Richards as president. The two others of the officers were Lilian Wright, vice-president, and Charles Chase, treasurer. 1 hese three, with the corresponding three Freshmen officers, taught the whole College how a Freshmen-Sophomore dance should be given. As in the previous semester, the Sophomores formed the basis for the development of the various College activities. Baseball, track, tennis, fencing, and dramatics—in all, the Sophomores were mainstays. With next year looming as the critical year for Sacramento Junior College, the example set by this Sophomore class will shine out as a beacon to guide the new Sophomore class, and through them the school. For it is the Sophomores which the College follows, either to success or failure.

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they turned to and gave the Co-op a fine send-off by doing over five hundred dollars’ worth of business during the store’s first semester s existence. And it is from this comparatively modest beginning that the Co-op made such amazing strides. Merle Shreck was appointed to continue the good work when Junior College opened last fall and Thor Jensen was chosen to assist him. Shreck was forced, by the press of work, to tender his resignation as manager. The resignation would have been a serious set-back had not the Co-op possessed an assistant manager who was able to step in and fill Merle’s shoes, figuratively as well as literally. TT x , , Thor Jensen has put the Co-op on a healthy, business basis. He stocked up the store with a complete line of inks, pens, pencils, books, binders, athletic supplies, drawing instruments, fancy stationery and cards as well as some fifty-seven varieties of gum, nuts, and candy. He kept the store open during every period, having student clerks in charge when he was not in himself. By purchasing a three hundred dollar cash register (paid for out of the profits), he was able to prevent any leakage and at the same time to give each customer a receipt for refund purposes. To cap the climax, the Co-op was equipped with a fine large show case, which was loaned by the State Agricultural Society. Besides housing the Co-op s display of articles for sale, the show case, during the noon hours formed an ideal lounge for the boys, who hitherto had not been as fortunate as the girls in ha ing a restroom. The true worth of Jensen’s work is told very simply by the record of the business transacted in the store. The data is not yet ready for the last semester, but in the first semester alone, as compared with the previous semester’s record of five hundred dollars, the Co-op handled $4,327.29 in goods of one kind or another. No remarks can attest as eloquently as those figures to the absolutely efficient and business-like quality of Thor Jensen s manage¬ ment, with the possible exception of the paens poured forth by the students when they drew their dividends—a lOffi rebate on all purchases save candy. The Junior College and the Community Although the Junior College as such is comparatively new in American education, it is, in reality, a return to the old Community College. It differs mainly by being adequately and publicly supported so that its administrative officers may be real educational executives instead of financial agents. The Junior College is a place where students may prepare directly for their life work or indirectly for a more extended college course. Here they get the college viewpoint and have most of the advantages and few of the disadvantages of those who spend their Freshmen and Sophomore years in the overcrowded larger institutions. Aside from its advantages to students, a Junior College affects profoundly the community in which it is located by giving it standing in this and other States. It also reacts on the community by raising its standards of education and by a commendable pride in the greater opportunities it gives to its young people and adults. The Junior College brings to its community the latest results of research and scholarship, and, if one thinks in terms of dollars and cents, it is a sound business investment. It is a Junior College for the students who atte nd it and a Community College for the section in which it is located. J. B. LILLARD. 23