Thornton Township High School - Thorntonite Yearbook (Harvey, IL)

Page 30 text:

u4uteA4, ei ty6 We need stenographers, bookkeep- ers, comptometer operators ! We need workers! is the constant call at the door of Thornton ' s Business Depart- ment. With more and more men going to the armed forces, the vacant seats of business and vital industry must be filled, and Thornton is doing its part giving thorough training to its stu- dents. Under the guidance of Miss Eva L. Lieber, the department not only pro- duces fast, accurate typists and speedy shorthand writers, but it trains stu- dents in the use of the adding machine, dictaphone, ditto machine, mimeo- graph, and other machines found in the business world of today. There are also relative subjects, such as economics, bookkeeping, and salesmanship, which further the training of efficient workers. After completing four years of the Business course, a person isn ' t a stu- dent any more, but a trained individual ready for the business world. He can accept a position with confidence, knowing he has been well trained to do an efficient and accurate job. Thornton is also conducting night classes for those who want additional training to better themselves in the field of business.

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ScAottiAA of the older ones still widely read by the students. Besides the English rental library Thornton is proud of its other library con- taining more than ten thousand volumes. There students spend hour after hour do- ing reference work under the guidance of Miss Ruth Glass and Miss Mattie Gard- ner, librarians. The senior will remember too his soph- omore year when he struggled through a sea of verbs, adverbs, and conjunctions; his junior year when he gave a speech in public speaking or wrote a composition and felt a tinge of self-satisfaction over a piece of well-done work. Then came his last year ! There he had a chance to splurge on his English course. The only problem is which to choose. If he wants to look behind the scenes, if he wants to charm an audience into breath-taking quietness, then he will cer- tainly choose to study dramatics. There he will be taught stage craft, lighting, and make-up, as well as acting. The senior course in radio workshop instructs in writing radio scripts and in voice culture. The name of creative writ- ing reveals its nature. Pupils write numer- ous essays and short stories. Then there is the debate class. This is especially interesting now because of the many world-wide problems open for dis- cussi on. Clear thinking and skill in ex- pressing ideas is every debater ' s goal, and after this comes the desire to gain mem- bership in the National Forensic League. Senior students may also choose to take part in the publications, the weekly news- paper or the yearbook, both entitled The Thorntonite .

Page 31 text:

4 accent rfnefaveb The Social Science Department, is divided into three sections, history, economics, and civics. Mr. C. C. Steg- meir heads the history group and Mr. J. F. Zimmerman, the economics and civics. Students wishing to study history may choose from one of three groups: European history, the study of man ' s development from the cave man stage to the time of the French Revolution ; modern history, which begins its study with the French Revolution and con- tinues to the present day; or American history, a subject required of every student before he can be graduated from Thornton, which teaches of the birth and growth of the United States. If a student wishes to learn more about the rights and duties of our government, he may choose to study civics. Maybe a student wants to know more about his legal rights; if so, commercial law is the subject for him. Economics, the science that investigates the con- ditions and laws affecting the production, distribution, and consumption of wealth, is popular among upper classmen.