Sacred Heart College - Gradatim Yearbook (Belmont, NC)

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In 1899 Academy space for students became more adequate when a new Convent and Novitiate brick building was erected and Professed Sisters and Novices moved from the frame Convent and Academy building, the first home of the Sisters at Belmont. The frame building was henceforth to be used entirely for the students. The dearest privilege granted them by this change was the converting of the Sisters ' Chapel into the school study hall. Still other changes for greater accommodations were made in 1 9 M when the Academy building was enlarged by the addition of a gymnasium, practice music rooms, and several private bedrooms with open sun porches. Then in 1922 the completion of Victory Hall — named in honor of Our Lady of Victory through whose intercession the building was made possible — was an event of genuine pleasure for students and teaching staff. Here were ample room and scope enough, for the time, for the growing needs of the school. The spacious auditorium, elegant single and double bedrooms, artistic music rooms, attractive art rooms, and interesting museum heightened the students ' joy and the teachers ' delight in the grand work of education. Again in 1928 the Sisters undertook still other enlargements. At this time the old gave way to the new. when the Academy frame building was torn down and in its stead the more adequate, more accommodating, and more imposing brick Admin- istration Building was erected. In this building the students were given greater facilities in class room space, in science laboratories, in library, periodical room, and reading room, and in recreation halls and dormitories. Unstinted outside recreational facilities, too, were provided in the large pavilion, the rose-covered summer-house, the rolled tennis court, and the concrete court marked for volley ball, badminton, and paddle tennis. These together with the expansive lawn have been the scenes of happy outdoor events, and gay, colorful parties that have become traditional in the life at Sacred Heart. Then who would attempt to estimate the influence for good that has been effected within the class rooms and study halls at Sacred Heart during all these years? Since its foundation fifty years ago, Sacred Heart Academy has endeavored to inculcate those principles and attitudes, those fine character- istics that are the essence of cultured womanhood. Using these as their norm, students and teachers have sought to keep pace with educational demands. With ever-increasing joy and enthusiasm they have acquitted themselves nobly of their duty to advance in age and wisdom before God and man. In its earlier years the Academy was not a high school in the strict sense of the word as it is today with its affiliations with school associations. It was, rather, a Southern finishing school in which emphasis was placed on

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all furniture was displayed to best advantage, and a flag of the United States was unfurled from the roof. Ceremonies were delayed till the arrival by train from Charlotte of Sister M. Gertrude, Sister M. Joseph, Sister M. Veronica, and Sister Margaret Mary. At three-thirty in the afternoon the distant thumping of drums heralded the approach of a brass band procession from the Abbey. Students, lay-brothers, and priests were on their way with the Bishop to attend the dedication ceremonies. In suitable order all proceeded through the house accompanied by the nine Sisters bearing lighted candles. When all the rooms of the three-story building were blessed, the procession returned to the Chapel where the Bishop delivered an inspiring address and a fitting welcome to the ' good, holy Sisters. ' Later, in the main hall, the band played on and did not take its leave until its members gave three rousing cheers for Sacred Heart Academy. Here at Belmont, in September 1892. Sacred Heart Academy opened wide its doors. Here for the years to be she was destined to instill true wisdom, to infuse true knowledge, and to mould truly Christian characters. In the school annals are recorded the interesting facts and outstanding events of those first years at Sacred Heart. The first session registration was twenty-one. twelve boarding pupils and nine day students. The first student enrolled was Mary Applewhite of Cronly, North Carolina. At the first distribution of prizes, Mary Goforth of Belmont, N. C now Sister Mary Ignatius of the Benedictine Sisters of Bristow. Virginia, received the honor of the school as an English graduate. In 1894, Saint Mary ' s Dramatic Asso- ciation, with Sister M. Agatha as president, presented entertainments in honor of Father Felix and the Bishop. In 1895, outstanding musicals were given as well as the presentation of Father Felix ' s play. Pontia, the Daughter of Pilate. ' Later with Sister Cecilia as president, the students presented a number of plays including Witch of Rosenberg. ' ' A Dress Rehearsal. ' and Tyrolean Queen. ' In June 1908. the first issue of The Sacred Heart Echoes was pub lished. The Echoes of that time was a quarterly publication. An unforgetable feature of those early and the later years at Sacred Heart was the part Father Felix played in the educational and recreational life of the students. From the time the Academy was established until the time of his death in 1924, Father Felix taught classes at Sacred Heart. But it was not in the class-room alone that the girls learned to know and appre- ciate Father Felix. In their weekly hikes, their frequent outing excursions, and their seasonal nutting expeditions, he was their friendly guide and most delightful companion. Gentleman, scholar, and priest, he was dearly loved and genuinely revered for his kindly, sympathetic nature, and his whole- hearted interest in all that concerned the students. The passing of the years brought many changes to Sacred Heart — changes in the personnel of the teaching staff, changes in the members of the student body, changes in the very face of the school and the campus.

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the cultural rather than on the commercial and scientific phases of education. Yet the curriculum as formulated for the Academy in those early days carried the student further than does the four-year high school of today. Besides Music and Art, Literature and Dramatics in which students strove to excel, excellent advanced courses in Latin, Philosophy, and Evidences of Christianity were given. In due time the Academy became fully accredited by the North Carolina State Department of Education. Later it was admitted as a member school of the Southern Association of Secondary Schools and Colleges. Then in August, 1935, came the announcement that the Sisters at Sacred Heart were prepared to extend their field of education. They were ready to supply needed academic, physical, and moral training of young high school graduates in two-year standard college courses. The Sisters proposed to give their stu- dents either of two courses: the classical course leading to the bachelor ' s degree, or a cultural secretarial course in preparation for a business career. Thus with the passing of the years, Sacred Heart has been richly endowed with temporal blessings that have brought forth in abundance spirit- ual fruit in the lives of those intrusted to her care. And looking back over a stretch of fifty years. Alma Mater is deeply grateful for the blessings that have been hers. Lovingly she fingers her rosary of golden memories as she muses, and from out the past she recalls cherished names of those who through all the years have given generously of their time and talents that i ' • ■ : ' ' U ■ ; n