Samuel Gompers Vocational Technical High School - Artisan Yearbook (Bronx, NY)

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' L .fs ernst for il while. you felt good lneealuse you knew you would he doing the same thing in the future vealrs, If you eun pieture the sehool the first time you npproanehed it, you might relnemher saying to your- self, Hls this the sehool they 1-all the prison? It looks an little like one . You rememher, it was your friends who told you it wus u prisong that onee you got into the plaee. the doors closed and you started to stiffer the eonsequenees of heing an student. But. when you went inside. something happened. You opened your eyesg you were impressed hy the numer- ous shops, hy the variety of maehines. You started to form your own opinion. Before long the rumors you had previously heard uhout Compers vanished from your mind. After going through this primary stage, you started to feel at home here. By now you had made at few Wt

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Uo you relnelnhcr thc first day at school? Rt'lll0lll- her you were happy when you left your house, happy lu-cause you were going somewhere, entering sonic thing you had never experienced hefore? Then when you reached your temporary destination you grew lonely. you were leary, you were afraid to take the step,-this becoming a Gompers man. The doors of the school were wide open, like the out stretched arms of a mother, and you stepped in. As soon as you had done so, you started to he per- secutetl as a rookie. You asked a senior student how to get to a room, and he sent you to the basement custodianis locker. Another fellow directed you into the court yard. But that wasnt as had as when you were sent for a wire stretcher. for a left handed monkey wrench, and when you were told to get a hox of anlperes. After he-ing led astray hy these seniors or so called upper-

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friends, thus making your stay more comfortahle. After glllll0l'lllg a few friends you toured some of the shops. You watched hoys working on machines. doing things yon thought only a man of great ex- perience could do, It made you want to take a try at it. Then the first time you did have to operate a machine, you were shaky. You thought you did 11ot know enough to operate it, hut to your surprise and great anxiety it all turned out fine. Can you even faintly recall, that at that time there was neither a C.0. nor a lunch room, Ahove all these two advantages were something almost every school ill the city had. The 11.0. was a strong organization which gave students many privileges they would not have other- wise. The hmch room seemed mysterious to all of us who had to eat outside, rain or shine. Remember