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

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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.’ ”

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Jee teh ReAs Drs 6 i Ag Ve bak 15 Class of 1912 Twenty-five years ago, on the evening of June 27, 1912, twelve boys stood upon the stage at Chestnut Street Grammar School and received diplomas which signified that they had completed the three year course of the Springfield Vocational School. It was the school’s first graduation, and the 200 people who witnessed the occasion perhaps never visualized its future growth. The Chestnut Street School Orchestra opened the program with a selection, and Principal E. E. McNary of the Vocational School gave a short address. Four members of the graduating class then had a debate on the following statement, ‘Resolved: that the new Massachusetts Employers’ Liability Act is fair to employer and employed.” An unusual fact about the debate is that one of the Vocational School’s present-day teachers, F. Warren Wells, took part in it. Mr. Wells is the only member of the first graduating class who now teaches at his Alma Mater. After the debate, Dr. J. H. Van Sickle, who was superintendent of schools at that time, presented the diplomas and Rev. Neil McPherson, pastor of the First Congregational Church, gave the principal speech of the evening. Another selection by the Chestnut Street School Orches- tra, and the program ended with an exhibition of a bench lathe, con- structed by members of the graduating class, in action. The lathe was attached to an electric motor and the perfection of its construction, to- gether with the skill of its operation, seemed to convince the audience of the value in vocational school training. The 1912 graduates were: Louis Albero Ralph Marshall Rupert Burnett Ernest Monahan Joseph Brown Edward Ritter Earl Graves Edward Thompson Harold Hitchcock F. Warren Wells Thomas Keating Raymond Woods The 1912 faculty were: Egbert E. McNary Charles B. Rose Daniel H. Shay Jay Fiske Edwin Knapp Clarence J. Sanborn