Springfield Trade High School - Beaver Yearbook (Springfield, MA)

Page 14 text:

12 THK ek AcDele sbeki Ay Vv: Hesk Mr. Harry T. Perry Mr. Harry T. Perry, veteran of 24 years of teaching in the Cabinet shop came to Springfield from Franklin, New Hampshire where he had been a builder. He first worked for the City Property Committee but soon began teaching. His first experi- ence was in evening classes at the Springfield Boys’ Club and in the East Longmeadow Junior High School. In September, 1913, Mr. Perry became an instructor in the Vocational School, then on Taylor Street, where he was one of a faculty of six. The enrollment at that time was about 60. The seniors of 1937 wish Mr. Perry good luck and good health in the years to come.

Page 13 text:

He lea De ees SA Sve beh 11 Sa — Bit — Dr. James H. Van Sickle Former Superintendent of Schools The late Dr. Van Sickle became Sunerintendent of Schools in Springfield in nine- teen hundred and eleven, the same year that the Vocational School became a state- aided school. It was he who presided over the simple ceremonies when the first graduating class received diplomas. He retired in nineteen hundred and twenty-three after twelve years of eminent service. During all this time he was ever on the alert in the interest of vocational education. Many of Trade School’s most cherished traditions are traceable to his wise counsel and benevolent co-operation. The Trade School honors his memory with sincere gratitude.

Page 15 text:

Tebeke TRAD Den BoE Ar Veber 13 Mr. F. Warren Wells “It is hard to realize that a quarter of a century has passed since I was one of twelve young men who stepped to the platform of Chestnut Street School Assembly Hall, the 27th day of June, 1912 and received a diploma from Dr. James H. Van Sickle, then Superintendent of Schools. This signified the completion of a three-year course in the Springfield Vocational School under Director E. E. McNary. How well I remember the year 1909, the month of September, and the opening day of school, I was one of the few who enrolled in the first class in this new type of education. We were a strange lot of boys. Some I dare say, just wanted to get away from the regular school routine and might have joined any course, but many of us really wanted more real training in shop work. Our class work was held mornings in an attic room in Chestnut Street School, and the Wood and Machine shop work, which were then the only two shops of the course, were held in Tech High, afternoons. We were to have six months’ try-out in each course. I had been around the school wood shops a good deal and was advised by my teacher to take wood work under Mr. Richardson, still a teacher at Tech, who was our instructor. The outstanding project of the year was the building of the four-room house in the yard of Tech. This was used until about 1926 by the Domestic Art Classes. At the end of six months we changed courses, and my class had machine shop practice under Mr. Clarence J. Sanborn who was also our classroom teacher at Chestnut Street School, mornings. I found machine shop work even more interesting than wood work and stayed in it until the end of school. Space does not permit me to tell many of the pleasant experiences we had in those early days, but I do wish to emphasize that the Springfield Vocational School and its faculty gave me the brightest and the most profitable part of all my school life. As a teacher in the Trade School, now, I feel sure that many of the boys who come here have the same opinion that I had in 1909—‘At last I found something with which I can start my life’s work.’ ”