South Side High School - Totem Yearbook (Fort Wayne, IN)

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TI-IE TOTEM A Glimpse ver The Decade By EDYTHE THORNTON At the opening of South Side High School in the fall of 1922 there were thirty-nine members of the faculty. Of that number twenty-three are still here. The number of teachers now totals sixty-nine. There were six teachers of English then, Mr. Ben- jamin Null and the Misses Rowena Harvey, Elizabeth Demaree, Beulah Rinehart, Ellen Burns, and Martha M. Pittenger, who also served as dean of girls. Of this number, Mr. Null, Miss Harvey, Miss Demaree, Miss Rinehart, and Miss Pittenger are still here. Many departments had only two teachers then. The Latin department consisted of Mr. Rothert, who is still here. and Miss Millicent Wforlc. The French depart- ment was managed by Miss Helen Dewitt and Miss Mildred Brigham. Miss Devitt also taught Spanish . Front row: Ley, Rinehart, Paxton, Demaree, Mott, Fiedler, Miller. Second row: Parks, Murphy, Rothert, Null, Gould, Murch. Top row: Wfhelan, Thomas, Harvey, Chappell, Hull with Miss Frances Flentye. Miss Hazel Miller and Mr. M. E. Murphy, both of whom are still here, had charge of the history and civics. The boys' gymnasium teacher was Mr. W. O. Gilbert, who still teaches here. The domestic science department had a staff of three teachers. Miss Crissie Mott taught sewing as she still does. Miss Gertrude Keep and lV1iss Alice Mereness also taught domestic science. The mathematics department was large, having four teachers. They were Miss Mabel Thorne, who is still here, Miss Adelaide Fiedler, who now heads the de- partment, Ralph O. Virts, and Philip Greeley. Miss Elizabeth Chapin had charge of the session hall as she does now. Mr. E. H. Murch was the teacher of commerce with Delivan Parks. Mr. Irwin Arnold, Mr. H. Chappell, and H. A. Thomas taught manual training. The latter two are still here. Mr. Lloyd Whelan taught physical geography, Mr. E. S. Gould taught botany, Ernest Curtis taught gen- eral science, and Mr. Herbert S. Voorhees taught chemistry. Of this number, Mr. Whelan, Mr. Gould, and Mr. Voorhees are still here. Miss Mary Helen Ley was the first art teacher. Mr. Louie R. Hull was the first physics teacher. They are both still here. The number of graduates each year is as follows: 1923, 80, 1924, 1093 1925, 165, 1926, 178, 1927, 183, 1928, 190, 1929, 228, 1930, 1995 1931, 273, 1932, 316. Since that first com- mencement ten years ago when eighty students re- ceived diplomas, 1,921 pupils have graduated from South Side. Those eighty students were graduated under condi- tions entirely different from the ones u n d e r which this year's class will graduate. When school opened in the fall of ,22, the door- ways had no doors, desks were not yet in the class- rooms, equipment had not been delivered to many of the departments, and carpenters and chil- dren from the g r a d e school traversed the halls. Despite the disorder and confusion during the first semester, many activities were started. The first issue of The Times was one of the notable occasions of the year. On Gctober 6, 1922, the four- page sheet of five columns made its appearance with the aid of Ruth Wagner, first general manager, and the advertising manager, Willis Carto. Now the front page of The Times is exactly twice the size of the original. Besides the organization of The Times, eight other extra-curricular activities were started. One of them, a club for girls, was called the Philalethian Literary Society, and its purpose was to promote higher liter- ature and friendship. Miss Elizabeth Demaree organ- ized the club and has been the adviser for it since 96