Tekonsha High School - Indian Yearbook (Tekonsha, MI)

Page 8 text:

Since this year is the last that the Seniors of nineteen hundred thirty eight will spend in Tekon-sha High School, we wished to leave behind us something that we could keep as a momento of our high school days as well as something that would be of interest to the remainder of the students. For the last three years, the graduating class has published an annual. It has been the answer to the problem of creating a remembrance and at the same time a thing of interest, so the Seniors of nineteen hundred thirty eight decided to carry on the tradition. This book is the product of our efforts and we hope you will enjoy it. 6

Page 7 text:

POTTAWAM History of the Annual Let us as a senior class and the publisher of the annual for nineteen hundred thirty eight look back for fourteen years to see what has happened in the history of the annual. The “Pottawam” was the first annual published in Tekonsha High School. This annual was published in nineteen hundred twenty four and was the only one published until nineteen hundred thirty four when the senior class released the “Echo”. In nineteen hundred thirty five the seniors published the yearbook called the “Boomerang”. The seniors of nineteen hundred thirty six and nineteen hundred thirty seven called their annual the “Potta-wam after the one in nineteen hundred twenty four. We, the Seniors of nineteen hundred thirty eight at the request of the class of nineteen hundred thirty seven have decided to call our annual the “Pottawam”. The name “Pottawam” is a contraction from Potawatomi, an Indian tribe belonging to the Algonquin family. The name means “fire makers”. The Potawatomis were a very large tribe which had possession of Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and Indiana. In this region they had about fifty villages. Tekonsha was one of these. It was named after their chief Tekonquasha. The chiefs had little power of their own but they usually carried out the will of the tribe. For communication the Indians used the sign language and theiir grammer was very complicated. Horses and canoes were used for transportation and the St. Joe river was one of the Potawatomi highways. War was constantly waged among the Indians before the arrival of the white man. But after the white man came they found it was impossible to keep them from taking their homes and land. 5

Page 9 text:

POTTAWAM Board of Education J. Earle Shedd...... George W. Davis . C. A. Anderson O. J. Fish Ray Green President . . . Secretary . . . . Treasurer .... Trustee ............ Trustee 7