Springfield Technical Community College - Yearbook (Springfield, MA)

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Part of Bide. 27 is demolished to make room for the new D . .1. D . DL . , c . D -u- „. . , - ? , .... Progress at the Putnam Physical Science Building. Physica Sciences bui ding. 1973} 6 Students point one of the old- er buildings. Faculty Offices in Bldg. 27. The first boogie of 1973. example or the boogies . Communication is easier. Help is available if it is needed. It is true that we have grown in number. Despite this growth, there is no one who can say that he or she was just a number at STCC. There has always been someone who cared about who you were, about what you were doing, about where you were going. Alumni are often amazed at the great changes in STCC when they return. They know, however, that they will find a warm welcome here from people who still care about them. Conversations between former students and their professors always begin with, Do you remember . . . ? And they recall the High Meadows picnics, the competitions for the campus queen, the marches to downtown Springfield for the Convocations, the dress code, and all the incidents which now seem to characterize their stay at STCC. They have left here with happy memories. While STCC stayed aloof from many of the controversies of the last few years, there is one incident which seems to characterize the school and its students. During 1969, on college campuses from Boston to Berkley, radical students were taking over and occupying the administration buildings of their schools, and attempting to confront administrators with demands for everything imaginable. The taking of Building 16, the Administration Building of STCC, was newsworthy for its lack of demands and 6

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of Building 27, in order to make room for the construction of the new Humanities Building and the Roger L. Putnam Physical Sciences Building. Both of these face the Green, part of the National Historical Site. The Humanities Building was occupied in September, 1973, and the Putnam Science Building is slated for completion in 1974. Pictures of existing structures, and statistics, are fine for citing one aspect of the way we were several years ago. It is not so easy to pin down the way we felt, the way we looked at STCC, and the way we looked at ourselves. For some, it was just a year, or two, of classes that had to be attended and courses that had to be taken and days that had to be gotten through. For others, it was the best time in their lives. For still more, it was an experience, an adventure. Certainly things have changed a great deal in the visual sense. One can see the difference in the comparison of the soundproof, well-lighted rooms, the lounges, the increased facilities for the comfort of the students. The other changes are not so visible, but they are as profound. There are more courses and they are improved. STCC ' s students are now able to apply to and be accepted at other colleges. Our faculty has grown proportionately with the student body. Our students are, according to most teachers, better than they ever were. There are more events which bring the students back to STCC for things other than classes: the movies, for 5

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the kind of confrontation it demonstrated as any of the more violent activities of other students. There was nothing to complain about. There were no problems between Administration and students. True, the students shouldered weapons and forced the president from his office, but the weapons were mops, pails, brooms, dustpans, dusters, and furniture polish. The President was forced to leave so that his office could be given a thorough cleaning! The students worked all through the night and the President went home. In the morning, with some fanfare, the rest of the plot was revealed. Without consulting anyone, except the carpenter, the students had decided to honor their leader. When the drapery was drawn away by the president of the Student Association, the new name of the building was revealed — Garvey Hall. On other occasions, students banded together to clean up the campus. They descended on the Armory Museum to check up on facts presented by their teachers about the history of the school. They counted the spikes in the fence for some reason, and held contests for others to count them. They were involved, they were active participants in the life of the college. There were difficulties to be overcome, growing pains to endure, problems to be faced. They faced them cheerfully and profited by the experience, as it is hoped the students of 1974 have profited, from their association with STCC. 7