Taft Union High School and Junior College - Derrick Yearbook (Taft, CA)

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it .I ,ik I 47, Administration IS VO' 'O' IOC '01 'Q' 'Ol 0 0 0 C 0 O O O C . ,, 0 0 0 O1 10131 In the early 1'twenties the names of Mr. George R. Watson and of Mr. R. H. Scott are found in the list of faculty members of Conley High. These same early '1twenties find many inter- esting events talcing place in the school. In February, 1921, the comic opera HH. M. S. Pinafore was presented, with Mr. R. H. Scott taking the part of the Captain. The old auditorium, which is now the study hall and library, was used: and the stage was the present text book rooms. Performances of the opera were given at Reward and Fellows. Spring in 1921 and 1922 meant picnics of the whole school at the San Emido Orange Ranch. Con- tests were held: and trucks carried the food, ofwhich Mrs. Ritenour was in charge. In January, 1922, the music department presented the comic opera The Chimes of Normandy in the Sunshine Theater on three nights. It was bitterly cold, and the coachmen were glad to wear overcoats. A new athletic field was dedicated on February 19, 1922, by the Taft English soccer team defeating the Bakersfield Scotch team. In April of the same year the Valley Track Meet was held on this Held. The State Track Meet was held there on May 10, 1924, and the gate receipts were 351724.35 It was in the fall of 1922 that the Taft junior College was established under the provisions of an act of the California Legislature. During the first three years of its establishment the highest daily attendance was nineteen. In 1926 this attendance grew to thirty, and during the past year over one hundred and fifty students have been enrolled in the junior College. The early Taft High buildings, over which students of those days were so joyous, have formed only a nucleus for the present group. To the main building have been added an auditorium which has very complete stage facilities, a science building equipped with everything necessary for scientific studies, a doni- estic science building which has a very up-to-date cafeteria, well everything that is modern in the home-making world. A gymnasium and a shop unit which includes a new building which will be in use next year in addition to the old one. Mr- I- C- Howes Not only has the Taft High grown in the number and size of its buildings, but the student body has in- creased from that group of ten students who attended a one-teacher school in South Taft to the present student body of eight hundred, taught by a faculty of fifty-one teachers. Future years will see the days of 1929-1930 added to early days of Taft High 9 and they will be thought of as the days before there was a plunge, a boys' gym- nasium,or any of the countless things which lie in store for those fortunate participants in future days in Taft High. l Mr. W. T. Walton

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l-1 Period One HEC' YO' UO' YO' ,OK 10' O O 0 0 'O' O U O O O' 'O' '01 'Of 'Os Administration AI. T. McRuer .................... Prinripal VV. T. Walton. . ,..,......... Vice-Principal CActing Principal after April SD Maud M. jones ............... Dean of Girls john G. Howes ....... Dean of Junior College Boairdl oil' Trustees B. Rintoul ............,.......... President H. E. Osbura ...,.................... Clerk I L. C. Graham Gladys Walker Cameron S. L. Lewis A. A. Lang CRetiringD Mr. T. lVlcRuer Early Days in Taft High Days of 1911 found the place where the buildings of the Taft Union High School and junior College now stand a barren stretch of sand under a blazing desert sun, the only life a tarantula leisurely strolling across the rocks or lizards scampering on the sand dunes at the approach of someone on his way to work in the oilfields. Taft was then a small town far out on the desert. The high school, called Conley, was organized as a branch of the Bakersfield High School. Ten students attended classes at a small two-room building in South Taft. There was one teacher, Mrs. Lavilla H. Campbell. The next year, 1912, Miss Janie C. Michaels was added to the teaching force, and the enrollment increased to eighteen. As the enrollment grew, new teachers were enlisted and new courses added to the curriculum. In 1914 there was an enrollment of forty-four, and two seniors were graduated at Bakersfield from the Kern County Union High School. lt was not until the fall of 1915 that Conley became a separate school and was placed on the accredited list by the University of California: and two years later, in 1917, students and faculty entered the beau- tiful new school buildings in North Taft. On the evening of February 22 the school was dedicated. The dedication address was made by Mr. Lawrence E. Chenoweth, County Superintendent of Schoolsg and at the end of the program a crowd of students in one section of the auditorium started a chugging locomotive yell. The entrance of the United States into the World War in 1917 greatly affected the students of the high school. Some boys enlisted, while the remaining students helped in every way to aid the soldiers. When the epidemic of influenza came on, several rooms were turned into hospital quarters. Mrs. Maud M. Jones

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16 ' Per1od One not ,gf soc ,QQ ,Qt ,Qt ,Of Q01 ,QQ ,gf ,gf ,of ,oe ,Qt .01 ,Qt ,Qc ,Qc ,Qt mockxl 1 FACULTY H. E. Cilfert Amy C. Peterson Bailey H. Newlee Mildred M. Baer Hubert A. Steidley Auto Mechanics Librarian English Domestic Srience Attendanccsupervimr Florence E..Underwood Henry T. Imes Minerva jones L. Kienholz F. Beatty Commercial English. History, Mathematics, Industrial Arts Philosophy Physical Education Coach Louise Lambert H. R. Lee Doyle S. Peckham Ruth Bormose English Mechanical Drawing, Head of Modern Languages Civicz, Coach English Department Bert Grithn Dorothy S.l-lenclerson Jay Schumacher M. L. Doner, Heacl H. Griffith Head Coach Craft, Metal Work Machine Shop of Industrial Arls De- Head of Economics, Sociology ,:rarlment,Mathematics Science Department A. Conrad Alice G. Atwood Vern E. Mullen Raymond H. Scott Catherine Paulsen Woodwork. Science Physical Education Bookkeeping English Pallernmalfing