Smithsburg High School - Leopard Yearbook (Smithsburg, MD)

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3? I ma ma fer K In the early years of the nineteenth century, a group of pupils assembled in a small stone building located where the Western Maryland Railroad crosses Main Street. The site of the building had been deeded for a school by Frederick Unger, one of the progressive citizens of Smithsburg. The people built the school and paid tuition so their children could attend. In this pioneer fashion the education svstem of Smithsburg began. For a time the school was conducted by Mr. Unagst, and after his resignation Mr. George Pearson was appointed to the position. Mr. Pear- son was one of the most successful teachers. His discipline was severe, but his subjects were thoroughly taught. His superior instruction en- abled many of his pupils to enter college as juniors, skipping both fresh- man and sophomore years, The subjects taught included the familiar reading, writing, and arithmetic, as wellas more advanced work such as Latin, Greek, algebra, geometry, and trigonometry. The first railroad was built through Smithsburg in 1869, and the school was torn down. Until the construction of a new building, school was continued in rooms rented in the town. The new building was erected along the Cavetown Pike. After sev- eral years, with this building in need of extensive repairs and with a greatly increased attendance, it was decided that a new and larger school was needed. In the latter part of the l800's, afour room, two storybrickbuilding was constructed on the site of the present high school, and Mr. Pearson continued as principal until his retirement in 1884. W 1 I

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y x SMITHSB URG HIGH SCHOOL By 1915, increased enrollment forced the razing of the old building anda new brick structure of eight rooms replaced it. In 1930, an addition was made. Today there are eighteen classrooms, a library, cafeteria, gymnasium, auditorium, office, and bookroom. The building houses an elementary school composed of grades one to six, and a high school con- taining grades seven through twelve. Until 1947, the principal was required to handle all correspondence, and to take care of any other matters concerning the school. At that time the Washington County Board of Education provided a full-time secretary to relieve him of many of these duties. In 1945, a Parent-Teachers Association was formed. The cure rent active membership numbers over one hundred. In 1949, limited space for the ever increasing number of students forced the remodeling of the cafeteria. It was partitioned so that it is used as two classrooms during the periods when lunches are not being served. In the current year, there are thirty teachers on the faculty, ten in elementary and twenty in secondary education. Mr. Frank Getty is the high school principal and Mrs. Margaret Stouffer is principal of the elementary school. Mrs. Nuss serves as office secretary. Over 643 students are enrolled in the entire school. Of these, approximately 350 are in the high school in academic, general, and vo- cational courses. The vocational courses include home economics, agriculture, and two recent additions commerce and industrial arts. The industrial arts course includes both wood and metal shops. In the academic field, Latin was recently dropped from the curriculum and French was added. The modern cafeteria is operated on a non-profit basis byamanager and two assistants, who are appointed by the Board of Education. Hot lunches are served daily to approximately 250 students and teachers. 'OAS Bo -S. .E'f' may ' X J? 1 VYQI' 'P 4... 9 05599