Somerville High School - Radiator Yearbook (Somerville, MA)

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LIGHTNING NEVER STRIKES TWICE? Debra Mabel ’57 On June 8, 1956, the Class Day exercises of the senior class of Somerville High School were held in the renewed auditorium, which was being used for the first time since the damage to the stage in the January fire. That afternoon, after everyone presum- ably had left the building, the second major fire to strike the high school in less than five months swept the fourth floor of the Central Building. Water damage was exten- sive on the three lower floors and in parts of the two wings. For the pupils, the school session did not resume to finish the year’s studies. During the summer, the roof of the Central Building was leveled to the third floor and a new flat slate roof was put on. Barricades were constructed, both outside and inside the school, to block off the Central Building completely above the basement level. A tem- porary main office was made of room 154 combined with the main corridor of the East Wing. Classrooms 144 and 145 were com- bined and made into one, for a new Art Room. Maple floors and new lights were installed; fresh paint made it look bright and cheery; some new equipment was installed. This room was ready for use at the opening of school in September. A new floor was put on the whole basement corridor, which was also painted. The corridors and lockers in the two wings were painted, too. This fall we started school in two sessions: the seniors and juniors attending the morn- ing session, and the sophomores attending the afternoon session. The teachers were di- vided so that each would work the hours of one full session. The Music Department was given the cafe- teria as temporary headquarters; the Band was allotted a room in the basement in which to keep instruments and uniforms, although they practice on Wednesday nights in the cafeteria. The school bank was relocated on the second floor of the east building in room 254A. Room 10, the headquarters for the Good Government Committee, was redeco- rated and supplied with temporary furnish- ing. An Editorial Room has not yet been been established, and the Radiator Staff has been doing the best it could using transi- tional meeting places. The chemistry and physics laboratories were supposed to have been located at the Southern Junior High and the Trade High School, respectively, but unfortunately, due to lack of equipment in these places, the science students had to postpone their lab experience until the re- construction of our own laboratories is fin- ished. The teachers’ cafeteria and the gym- nasium are functioning as usual. The me- chanical drawing rooms and the manual training rooms in the basement of the Cen- tral Building were redecorated and are in operation. The auditorium on the first floor will be completely out of use until all work in the Central Building is completed. We pupils have all been doing the best we could with what we had left since the fire. Everyone has been inconvenienced, but we’re sure that once the construction is finished, the Central Building ready for use, and the school routine back to normal, everyone will profit from our greatly improved school. Four

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S31 35C=-53 CA-2) MASSACHUSETTS BDYS’ STATE During the week of June 22-30, Herbert Cunha, Robert Giordano, Paul Anderson, and Paul Schaefer attended the American Legion- sponsored Roys’ State convention, at the University of Massachusetts, in Amherst. These boys represented Somerville High and Somerville’s two Legion posts. The convention was held for the purpose of teaching high school junior boys the laws of SHS REPRESENTATIVES Standing, left to right: Herbert Cunha, Paul Anderson. Seated, left to right: Paul Schocfcr, Robert Giordano. our state and our courts, the duties of a citi- zen, and the function of national, state, and city elections. Each of the 450 boys was assigned to a certain town or city, and to a certain party —either Nationalist or Federalist. Daily town meetings were held, during which officers were elected, and the duties of these offices were executed. Party conventions were held quite often, at which the state officers were nominated. After a heated campaign on both sides, the entire population elected the state officers, using ballot boxes loaned by the town of Amherst. The climax of the election was the inauguration of the Constitutional Officers by Lieutenant Governor Sumner G. Whittier. Law and citizenship classes were held daily, and exams were given both groups. Those passing the exams receive certificates, and the highest boys in the law class sat in at a session of the Superior Court at North- ampton. The boys really got a taste of college life, as they used the university’s dorms, dining commons and many other halls and class- rooms. In adddition, they had the complete use of the university’s athletic equipment. Each afternoon, the boys swam in the pool, played softball, baseball, tennis, or basket- ball. Climaxing the athletic program was a baseball game between the Boys’ State All-Stars and the Gardner Legion team. Church and Temple services were held. Parents joined their sons on Sunday for din- ner. Each evening the Boys’ State band played at the assembly and special speakers such as the Girls’ State Governor, advisers of Boys’ State, and many state officials were often in attendance. On the final evening, highlights of the assembly were an excel- lent talent show and threehours of movies. Coming from all over the state, the Boys’ Staters represented many nationalities and creeds. They worked together, side by side, in their political and athletic jobs, without the slightest bit of jealousy or antagonism. So it was that 450 boys concluded their ac- tivities on the campus of the University with only one general complaint:--------they hadn’t seen any girls for eight days! i k, NOV 8'57 Three

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A TRIBUTE TO MISS SUTHERLAND Barbara Morgan '57 It was with a distinct sense of a job well done, that Miss Ruby Sutherland could retire this past September. Room 254, however, just doesn’t seem the same place without her cheery smile and friendly hello. Born in the little town of Lancaster, New Hampshire, where she attended the Woods- ville New Hampshire Secondary School, she continued to further her education at the Leland Powers Collegiate School, Emerson College, Boston University and Columbia University. She holds the degrees of B.LL, M.A. and B.S. in Education. She began her service at Somerville High School in 1922 as a teacher of History and Elocution. Throughout the years, Miss Sutherland regarded her students not as groups, but rather as individual personalities, each of whose present lives and further welfare be- came her immediate concern. She devoted her time unselfishly and unsparingly to the best interests of those to whom she could be of service. Whether a matter was perti- nent to teaching, or to church or college, she always made “Service” her watchword. During December of 1930, her teaching was interrupted because of typhoid fever, contracted in Europe where she was in a Ter- centenary Pageant the summer before. Because of her keen interest in her co- workers and her engaging personality, both teachers and pupils give to her the tribute of their warm affection and high esteem. CONSERVATION CARAVAN—1956 Paul Prentiss ’57 An assignment this short to tell about my 15,000 mile trip cuts me down to making a few pertinent observations on the highlights alone! (Just in case there’s anyone left who doesn’t know, I went to the Pacific Northwest and Alaska on a Conservation Caravan for the Boy Scouts last June.) And first on that list comes being allowed to fly the plane for thirty minutes—most ex- citing experience a person can have, I would say. (By the way, when rain hits your auto- mobile windshield, it runs down, doesn’t it? When it hits a plane windshield, it runs side- ways.) One of the most unique things I saw was the “graveyard” at the Russian Orthodox Church in the Manatuska Valley, Alaska. These people do not bury their dead under ground as we do, but instead build gaily decorated little houses for them in tiny vil- lages around the church. When you take 12 boys from 4 million boys—one scout representing about 300,000 scouts—from all different parts of the United States you get some interesting views of how the other parts live and think. One boy had never seen an olive. One declared he wouldn't go to school if he had to wear shirts and ties and shoes as we northerners do. Another did the boasting for Texas as if it were part of Oklahoma. We came home speaking a “na- tional language,” a combination of all the sec- tional accents in one. We stayed at one home with a swimming pool, but the rest were just like yours and mine, and parents gave up their beds to us, washed and pressed our uniforms even when we showed up at midnight and had to leave at 5 a.m. The 1955 Western All-American Football Coach was our host one night, and many a pretty Senior Campfire Girl danced with us and gave us breakfast at Portland. The biggest disappointment was not catching any salmon at King Salmon River in Alaska. They didn’t dare not bite for the General who was with us, though. (Turn to page 31) Five