St Rita of Cascia High School - Cascian Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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we g0lfl,l fA meal Q 1935 to 1945 ln the su::.1iLer of 1935, Reverend Ruellon 13. Fink succeeded Father l-larris. Father Fink has been tire motivating spirit of many noteworthy developments of which the most important achieve- ment was the installation of a technical course in 1936. The opening of the course increased the enrollment by 25 per cent. The goal of the technical school was to capture the title, best equipped technical high school in the city. With the com- pletion of an aero-engine shop, and a large automotive shop in the new Mendel technical build- ing, opened in lune 1938, this goal had almost been reached. ln August 1939, a second great achievement of Father Fink was accomplished. lt was the addition to Egan Hall. ln the new section a cafeteria was added, and the public address system was installed throughout the school plant. Before the school newspaper had reached its 10th anniversary it had won three awards. ln 1937 the Ritan received First Honor in the Catholic School Press Association, and in 1938 it was given the All-Catholic Award, the highest honor attainable in the Association. The Award was bestowed again to the Ritan in 1939 for the second year in succession. Vtfhen St. Rita opened her doors in 1940, there were almost 1200 students enrolled. The en- rollment has gradually increased due to the introduction of the technical course in 1936. The new enrollment surprised even the most optimistic. Father Fink's prediction that there would be 1,000 boys attending St. Rita in 1940, was surpassed by nearly 200 students. This high enrollment made St. Rita the largest boys' Catholic high school in the city. ln lune 1941, there were 205 boys grad- uated from St. Rita, a new school record. Another important event marked the month of lune, 1941. Father Fink was elected provincial of the newly created midwestern province of the Order of St. Augustine. The new province was under the patronage of Cur Lady of Good Counsel and was composed of all the territory west of Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains. The coming of the Second World War gave St. Rita men a chance to show their unmatched spirit. Rita men, alumni and students, went to war. Some were destined never to return. Others would return, crippled, but always courageous and hopeful, a mark of the Rita man. ln 1942 more than 200 Ritans were serving their country. The war never hampered operations at St. Rita. By 1943 there were more than 1,000 Ritans serving their country in every branch of the armed forces, and during 1944 the number of Rita men in the service steadily increased. At least seven members of the faculty left St. Rita to serve their country, tighting shoulder to shoulder with former pupils. They too brought honor to St. Rita. OPPOSITE PAGE lolin '1ii'ks Connelly H926-401 ugoiitleririri, srhcl xr :nd vc I'l1f two groups of musir' makers: the murph- infg R :nd moderator Fr. Dave H. Ryan 11937-401 and Fr. P. loseph Marran 11937-411 and loe Nolan s 'Rythmn Boys . . . both flourished circa 1939, The Tet-h Dept. machine shop makes the headlines: The 13111111 editors put the paper to bed Cleft to right1 Ed Clierke Bob Cahill .ind Len Zirnny . . . Booster Vt'eCk: 'Avo rlcxv our own horn. Spnikfris tixlvlfr t5eft to rifgl1t1 lolin Connelly, Din Linnont Fr. Fink and lohn Reese: ground-breaking foremony for the addition to Egan Hall north end. lloft to right1 eager-beaver boys of the Band, Harry Maher '13 Architecty Fr. Wm. Fink, Fr. Frank Ccan Fi. lohn Reidy , . . The public address system in the neu-J iiddition . . . Fr. lohn 1. X. Glynn 11936-421 rind Fddie Waldron '4l.

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. 9 3 i OPPOSITE PAGE ABOVE They sure were the good old days ...' 'No more Latin, no more French, no more sitting on a hard board bench - Study Ha1l?? . . . Father Harris 1918-35, teacher, coach, lack-of-all-trades , educator, priest, loved and respected by all Rita men. More boys - dudes of the Roaring Twentiesw - and more athletes - Basketball champions of 1927-Fr. Harris coach, Baseball cham- pions 1928-Fr. Donovan coach, Coach Tom 'O'Shaughnessy and Capt. Harry Locke . . . more boys: concentration, exultation, .Ind determination power house. li i ll ill' ,. A .5 3 ,,:'- 1 A i 4 il!! UO!! The south view of the campus: buildings lleft to right? Egan Hall, Harris Gym, Green Hall, Circa 1930, foreground football field and we wire! lecacle 1925 was a year of expansion which saw the construction of a new unit in the school plant. The new building, to be known as Egan Hall, was equipped with the most modern class room facilities and laboratories. lt was completed by September of 1926, and it was opened for the school year. lmmediately it relieved the burden from over-crowded Green Hall, where in addition to classrooms were living quarters of the priests and faculty mem- bers. Reverend loseph B. Kepperling was appointed rector to this bigger and better St. Rita H.S. ln March 1929, a plan was conceived to bring together the mothers of the students of St. Rita H.S. Because of its many achievements, and its as- sistance to the administration and faculty, the Mothers Club became one of the more prominent parent school activities. Father Kepperling was a brilliant and progressive administrator. How- ever, after only three years in the rectorship, he died lune 4, 1929, the end of that school year. His immediate successor was the Reverend Iohn I. Harris. lt was during his administration, that two St. Rita publications had their origin in 1930. The high school newspaper the Ritan, was the first of these, the other was the yearbook, the Cascian, a name previously used for an earlier bi-monthly magazine. Ph the period preceeding 1931, St. Rita had become well known for its championship baseball teams. ln 1928, 1929 and 1930, St, Rita won the South Section Championships, and in 1929 and 1930 went on to win the Catholic League Championship. An increase in the number of students in 1930 caused the demand for a larger library. Accordingly it was enlarged six times its original area. A book drive was held in which thousands of books were acquired as dona- tions. Finally, in October of that same year, the library was reopened for use. Because of the success of the Mothers Club, the Fathers Club was organ- ized in 1930, One of its first successful protects was the remodeling of the stadium. A new cement wall surrounding the stadium was built, and new wooden stands were set up. The dedication was held on September 27, 1931. Mayor Cermak presided at the dedication, which was climaxed with a football Qame 15 l

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