Townsend Harris High School - Crimson Gold Yearbook (Flushing, NY)

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PHILIP SMITH Mr. Philip Smith is the moderator of Townsend Harris student self-government. Literally, a moderator is an arbitrator, a mediator, and not a person who restrains or restricts. Our tall, kindly math instructor is all that the word implies. He is the guardian angel of the General Organization and the guiding force of the Insignia Committee. In his official capacity, he does not com- mand, he counsels. It is this calm, level- headed observer who reviews our problems with a quiet, contemplative air, and it is he who then gives us the fruits of his wisdom. His counsel can he depended upon to the utmost degree. Many are the students who have been the grateful recipients of the mod- erator,s advice. YV ith keen unerring eye he has perceived minor defects of character, which if allowed to flourish would develop like insidious weeds into major faults, and he has helped to eliminate the evil. By dedicating the Crimson and Gold of 1934 to Mr. Philip Smith, we have endeav- ored to express the heartfelt thanks and gratitude long due a personality of so high a calibre. We sincerely hope that we have succeeded in conveying our sentiments. page four

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DEDICATION To Mr. Philip Smith, we, the editors, dedi- cate this, the January, 1934 Crimson and Gold. page three

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FACULTY SECTIUN Upon entering Harris the average student is inclined to regard a member of the faculty as some sort of supernatural being, a person endowed with peculiar characteristics, and one who is to be feared as well as revered. Time, however, slowly disproves this naive theory and even more slowly welds a mature conception of the relationship which should exist between the student and the instructor. When the thin walls of reticence and pro- priety which surround the individual student disappear entirely, he discovers that those men whom he has always regarded as over- seers occupy a somewhat different, if not less impressive position. More time is required for the realization that these gentlemen are not only instructors, but also friends. This understanding is greatly hastened by direct contact with the teachers in extra-curricular activities. It is soon revealed to the student that each of these ostensibly staid, dignified individuals has a live, vibrant character. It is truly a pity that the student cannot comprehend the status of his teachers before the senior term, for although he may be graduated with the belief that he has taken advantage of everything Harris oB'ers, still there is the subconscious realization that something is lackingg he has failed to become fully acquainted with those fine gentlemen- those true friends who have aided him so much--the Faculty. page ive