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

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6 Pee el eA) Shy ae elo, Vertue tt History of Boys’ Division of Trade School By George A. Burridge Recorded elsewhere on the pages of this Year Book is the inspiring story of the first graduating class of the Trade School, or the Vocational School, as it was then called. Twenty-five years have passed since the first group of young men went out as graduates. Twenty-five years of interesting development. There were times during this period in the history of the school when prospects for the future gave cause for apprehension. This was partic- ularly true during the years when our country was participating in the World War. The number of young men graduating in those days was small indeed when compared with the number graduating this year. In fact the records show that six young men received diplomas in 1918 and five in 1919. During these lean years the losses to the school were many. Un- trained and partly trained boys, easily finding employment, left and went to work. A number of the school’s ablest instructors entered the military service of their country while other s served most efficiently in the ranks as civilians. The Director, who had so efficiently laid the educational foundations of the school was called to render educational service in the great ship yards of the country. His going was a blow to the progress and efficien- cy of the school. It was the fond hope of his associates that he would return at the close of the war, but it was not to be. Small quarters and limited facilities at the disposal of the school were problems in those days. However, in spite of these adversities the school was steadfast in its objectives. At no time was there ever a doubt that some day these objectives would be realized. Post-war conditions exerted a stabilizing influence. Enlarged quarters, and added facilities gave it a new impetus and again the school went forward toward its objectives. The objectives toward which the school advanced and is still ad- vancing are, briefly, as follows: 1. To help worthy men and women both young and middle age, to prepare for profitable employment. To offer courses sufficiently diversified to enable those in need of training to find a place somewhere in the curriculum. 3. To recognize the industrial and commercial needs of the commu- nity and to so guide the program of the school that those completing courses will have reasonable assurance of securing employment. 4. In short to develop a schedule sufficiently flexible to serve all who feel the need for trade or any other employment education, regardless of age or previous educational background. There is much yet to be done before these objectives can be fully attained. Again limited quarters and limited facilities are retarding the progress of the Trade School, but we must be patient. The boys and girls who are receiving diplomas in 1937 may well look back with pride to the pioneers of 1912. It was they who laid the foundations upon which has been erected an institution to which the graduates of this year and each succeeding year may look with pride.

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ES si RA Dee B. nels Vebed We wish to express our appreciation to the Print Department faculty. With- out their co-operation it would be impos- sible for us to have a year book. Mr. John J. Mack Mr. William L. McNeece Mr. Charles F. Gallagher

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DH Beet RAY Din BoA Ve tiek if History of Girls’ Division of Trade School By Mrs. Margaret C. Ells In 1919 a law was passed in the State of Massachusetts, which com- pelled the youth, who left school to go to work under the age of 16 years, to attend a Continuation School four hours each week. This law became effective in Springfield in 1920, so on September 8, 1920, some five to six hundred girls, between the ages of 14 and 16 years, were summoned back to a newly organized Continuation School for four hours each week. The first year, the Girls’ Continuation classes were housed in the High School of Commerce, but in 1921 they were transferred to the Old Hooker School on Main Street, (now the Girls’ Trade School) where the Continu- ation boys were also housed. Mr. Caroll W. Robinson was the principal of this school. During the first years of the Continuation School, girls under 16 had little difficulty securing positions in industry. In 1928 and 1929, it became increasingly difficult for girls to secure positions, first, because the employer wished to get girls a few years older, and second, and most important, was the demand of the employer that the girl be given some definite trade training. “If your girls were trained, we could employ them. Why don’t you train for some specific work?” said the employers, and the girls began making reports such as, “If I knew how to run a power machine, I could have secured a job this morning”’, but under the Continuation School plan, there was not time enough at school to give trade training. It was very evident that there was a need of training for the girls, and a demand for it from employers. As girls were laid off in industry, they returned to the Continuation School each year and asked to be allowed to continue beyond the age of 16 years, as one girl expressed it,“I want to attend this school, as here you are in closer touch with industry, and more apt to get a position.” And so they returned after age 16, when they were no longer obliged to attend, until in 1933-1934, the majority of the girls attending Continu- ation School were over 16, while those under 16, the compulsory group, had steadily decreased. On January 29, 1934, the Continuation School which had been in existence for fourteen years became a part of the Trade School, and the Girls’ Division of the Continuation School became the Girls’ Trade School. Mr. George A. Burridge, for many years principal of the Boys’ Trade School, was made the principal of both schools, as they were consolidated into one Trade School, though in different buildings. Mrs. Margaret C. Ells, who had been head of the Girls” Division of Continuation School, was made assistant principal of the Trade School, in charge of girls’ work. The first trade courses to be organized were Trade Dressmaking and Foods and Catering. Power machines were assembled and placed for the dressmakers, and a class room was fitted up and decorated for use as a Tea Room to train Foods girls in waitress service. In the general department, short unit courses in Vocational Home- making and Winding and Soldering were organized for the girls who needed specific units of training to discover abilities, so as to secure em- ployment. On January 29, 1937, we were three years old as a Trade School, and on June 18, 1937, we look forward to the graduation of twelve or thirteen girls who will have completed the required Trade work. This marks an epoch in the Springfield Trade School as the first girls are to graduate just twenty-five years later than the first boys.