Somerville High School - Radiator Yearbook (Somerville, MA)

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 CHARLES T. C. WHITCOMB HEAD MASTER, SOMERVILLE ENGLISH HIGH SCHOOL. 1895 - 1906 HEN the English High School was established in 1895 the School Board chose Mr. Whit- comb, then a young man of thirty-fire, to organize it. Mr. Whitcomb came to Som- erville from Wakefield, where for sev n years he had been principal of its High School. He brought to his new position enthusiasm and an unusual leadership. High Schools at that time were beginning to broaden from strictly college preparation. English High Schools were being established with a view to giving a broad general education to the many. With this in view Mr. Whitcomb was called upon to arrange a new course of study, to select a corps of teachers sympathetic to the new educational requirements, and to weld all into an effective unit. This he did with unusual success. An able administrator, an enthusiastic leader and an in- spiring influence among young people, he soon developed the Somerville English High School into one of the best known and best organized in the state. From a small school of 456 in 1895, with nineteen teachers, it grew in eleven years to 1,095 with a faculty of forty. Of this number who were with him here in 1906, ten still remain in the school. In 1906 Mr. Whitcomb left Somerville to take charge of the Brockton High School, where he remained till 1915. Those of us who had the privilege of serving under him remember him as a man of high ideals, of great ability, of intense interest in his work. Somerville owes to him a profound feeling of gratitude for the deep imprint he left on the city’s educational system. Many of the best traditions of the present High School may be traced directly to his initiative and guidance. JOHN A. AVERY. October 4, 1931.

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Somerville High School Radiator Vol. XLI No. 1 Isr Somerville, Massachusetts October. 1931 Terms. S.7. per Year Entered as third class mail matter at Boston I . O. Single Numbers. 15 cents The Somerville High School Radiator is published l y the High School on the fourth Monday of every month during' the school year, and only important news matter can be received after the first Thursday f the month. Matter for insertion may be left with any t the editorial staff or mailed to the editor at the High School. In contributing, write on one side of the paper only, and sign full name. Communications, according to their nature, should be mailed to the editor, managing editor, or ex- change editor. Manuscript must be accompanied by necessary postag to insure Its return. SOMERVILLE JOURNAL PRINT Associate I'd i tors Julia SaparolT. ’32 David O’Brien, ’32 Poetry I'ditor Phyllis Down, ’32 Alumni Editor Rosamond Reiser, '32 Class Editors Irving R. Murray, ’32 Ruth Alice Carter, ’33 Horace Grover, ’34 Library Editor Annette Jervis, 32 Fncult Advisor Elizabeth F. Leach EDITORIAL STAFF Edltor-lii-fh lef WARREN C. RUSSELL, ’32 Ilusiiiess Manager David Young, ’33 ssi.Ntant Business Malinger Marjorie Michelson, ’34 John Albani. ’34 ('imitat iug M a nager Sherman Levenson, 32 Assistant Circulating Managers Virginia Savage, 32 Audrey De Long, 32 James Kaup. '32 Franklin Lane, 32 Faculty Treasurer Laurence A. Sprague Evlinuge Editor Evelyn Paten, 32 A tlilef ie Editor Robert Miller, 33 Humor Editor Laurence Parr. ’33 St:: tV Artists Frances Vcnuti, 32 Doris Daniels, '32 Arnold Black, 32 William Pando, ’32 Ralph Smith, '32 Assistant Faculty Treasurer Elizabeth M. Welch Table of DEDICATION 4 EDITORIALS 5-G SOMETHING TO REMEMBER HIM BY 7-8 David O’Brien. ’32 A ROOM FOR THE NIGHT 9 John Kennedy, ’34 BILL’S UNEASINESS 9 Philip Seretto, ’34 INTRODUCING “US” 10 RIVERS 11 Dorothy Hallberg, ’32 Contents HOW BLACK HAWK. THE FAMOUS ROBBER, WAS CAUGHT Fred Young, ’33 11 LIBRARY DEPARTMENT 12 POET’S CORNER 13 ALUMNI NOTES 14-15 SCHOOL NEWS . JC EXCHANGES 17 CLASS NOTES 18-20 ATHLETICS 21-23 HUMOR-ETTES 24-25

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SOMERVILLE HIGH SCHOOL RADIATOR 5 The Hardening Process I “Ole Swimmin’ Hole is deserted again. The folks at home and country relations get a moment of peace now and then, yet the neighborhood grocer misses his errand boy. May we not flatter ourselves for once by saying that we are missed when we are in school? Do you know that there is a belief that when one is born the head contains a soft substance? Evidently, so the tale goes, this matter be- comes hardened as the young person learns a new trick or name, or the like, and so on through life. Now I suppose you are thinking that some of these professors and so-called “know-it-alls should be top-heavy. However, we’ll not go into that for the thing that really concerns us is whether or not we are getting any “hard spots. Surely we could wish for no more helpful surroundings than Somerville High School. Don’t you feel a little bit of self-importance when you come in sight of school in the morn- ing and realize that this convenient and inspir- ing layout is all for you? I do. Of course, I sympathize with those who dread entering, for isn’t it uncomfortable when you’re con- tinually wondering if the history teacher will call on you and when you’ve been to a show or dance the night before and haven’t done a bit of home study? You just know a reception will be tendered you, only it will be during the seventh period or else a chum remarks: “Say, Bill, you had all the luck today. You weren’t even asked to recite. Luck. Is it really luck and do we wait to be asked to re- cite? Certainly it is luck for the teacher but hardly for us, is it? Why, the way I’m carry- ing on you’d think we never studied, wouldn’t you? Still it’s good to remind ourselves that anyone can say “I don’t know, but it takes study and observation to learn to think so that one may honestly say and feel confident that he does know. What difference will it make in later years whether or not we remember a poem or a cer- tain “brain-teaser” in mathematics? No dif- ference whatever because after all if we ac- tually learned the poem, or whatever it might have been, our brain developed that much more as a result of it and even though the very words are not on the tip of our tongues, still our brains have conserved the idea expressed in the words and their beauty and meaning have developed the senses which make human life livable, for it is the union of all these senses which gives power to think. Then is it not easy to see that if each of these separate senses are well developed then their union into a thinking body should enable that person to appreciate the beauties and enjoy the happi- ness of life. Great educators and authors have purposely written books, poems and songs to convey this very idea and how can we, the leaders of to- morrow, conscientiously feel that we want to go through life missing half of what it holds for us solely because we did not make use of the opportunity that our schools and teachers offered — the opportunity to learn to think. W. C. R. ADVICE TO AN EDITOR By Edna Morus, ’34 When you feel that things arc slow. When your stock of news runs low, When there seems a woeful lack, And the murder-market’s slack, When, I say, you’re short of copy, Don’t grow lachrymose and sloppy.