Spingarn High School - L Esprit Yearbook (Washington, DC)

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Spingarn has many views for us to store in our memories.

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A Panoramic View of School Life I966-I967 The Falling of the Leaves Autumn is over the long leaves that love us, And over the mice in the barley sheaves, Yellow the leaves of the rowan above us, And yellow the wet wild strawberry leaves. When William Butler Yeats composed these lines, he was engrossed in the natural setting of his beloved Ireland with its beautiful, level, grassy lands and its quietly ripening harvests of fruit and vegetable and grain. ' We can change the setting of the poem from Ireland to America and consider it as a symbol of the changes in store for all of us. When autumn is over, we return to school. When the days grow shorter, we must forget our bright sunlithours for hours of work by the artificial light casting its shadow over our literature or science books. Too soon the lazy, hazy days of summer will recede forever into the long shadows of our memory. What does happen in the memorable days of autumn? Class after class arrives, each one con- tributing a very special member to the Spingarn family. First, there comes the eager, optimistic freshman who has successfully crossed the bridge to his next educational goal. He carries his past successes fresh in mind. Naturally he feels apprehensive as he joins the throngs alighting from the buses, crossing Benning Road, walking hurriedly up the center steps. But he can no more stay his own footsteps from reaching Spingarn's steps than he can stop breathing. The promise of the future lures him on. The sophisticated sophomore arrives with aswagger and a calm that conceals enormous pride: pride at no longer being a green freshman, pride at the salaried job of the summer that has pro- vided him with his fashionable school outfit, his study materials, and his carfareg and pride at being once again an indispensable part of the educational crowd returning to his Alma Mater. Ahead stretch the few short months Che expectsj until June. Then he will face his last hurdle: his wonderful, wonderful senior year. The last to arrive-just a moment before the last shrill note of the five-to-nine bell-is the revered senior who comes for a last polishing before he moves onward to greener pastures. He stands as amonumentto all of his years of school, to all of the devotion of his family and friends and to all of the dedication he himself has mustered for the task of obtaining a high school diploma from his special school. Each individual - freshman, sophomore, senior - steps rapidly away from his past, moves unafraid into his present, and awaits with honor and resolution the coming of tomorrow.

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X ,I 'N 451 rr. br' I At last, students reach school after an early rising. , . M,W,W-1 , , . Officer Benjamin Lewis is stationed at his post of duty. Students enter the building for another day