University of Nebraska Kearney - Blue and Gold Yearbook (Kearney, NE)

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 J. S. ELLIOTT Registrar MRS. C. A. BLACK Secretary SARAH L. GARRETT. R S. Assistant Registrar PAUL GALE Student Assistant [201

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DEAN OF WOMEN HE position of Dean of Women is a new one In our schools and colleges. This has come to meet a practical need and a social requirement in the care and supervision of young women. Every young woman has a right to the highest possible individual development, physical, intellectual, moral, social, and spiritual, that she may develop into the highest ideal of womanhood. Today hundreds of young women are entering our halls, some, earnestly, to pre- pare for their life work; others, to be entertained and amused. It therefore becomes the privilege and the duty of our Dean of Women to keep the balance true, to con- serve our young womanhood. The health of each young woman must be conserved and improved, since she is the dominant link in the new generation. She must be trained to be an economic factor, one who is able to make her own living, and. to spend wisely the funds at her disposal. She must be trained to use profitably her leisure time. She must realize her responsibility as a social being, and must be trained to give service to her community. So closely is the physical well-being of our young women related to their mental and moral growth, that we can well afford to encourage everything which is related to the most complete physical development. This of necessity includes the conditions under which our young women are living, as well as the habits of study, rest, and recreation. The over-ambitious girl whose greatest desire is to graduate magna cum laude, even at the expense of her health, must be held in check as well as the girl who shirks and is the despair of her professors. The girl who comes to college simply for the social life it offers, needs to be shown the true values in life. But her fellow student who holds in disdain any intercourse with those around her. is also in need of guidance. The penurious girl who is mistaken in the belief that she can afford to live in the poorest room, and dine at the cheapest table, needs our attention just as much as does the spendthrift, who has no con- ception of the value of money. It is the earnest endeavor of every Dean of Women, that our young women shall as nearly as possible realize the highest ideals of womanhood, Kearney was the first State Normal School in Nebraska to have a Dean of Women. In October. 1914, Miss Gertrude H. Gardner, head of the Latin department at that time, was elected to the position, and has carried on the work among the young women since that time. One channel thru which much of her work is revealed, is her personal hygiene classes, by means of which she endeavors to give practical assistance to every young woman in meeting her personal problems. Each year Miss Gardner has given a series of teas at her home, thus meeting the girls in small groups, and fostering a spirit of sociability and good fellowship in the student body, The Dean's Council has given her valuable assistance in furth- ering a spirit of unity among the girls. Miss Gardner has endeavored to know personally each young woman in school, and the conditions which surround her, in order that she may be her true friend and adviser. 1221