University of Wisconsin River Falls - Meletean Yearbook (River Falls, WI)

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Rexford S. Mitchell A. M. University of Chicago Civics amt Public Speaking Dean of Men Irma Hatiiorn A. M. Touchers College, Columbia University Dean of Women aS we look back upon this school year I am sure we all feel bas been a good one. It has been our first as a Teachers College; our first in the new building. There has been a splendid spirit of co-operation and a fine atmosphere of friendliness at all times. We have won no state championships, hut our representatives in intercollegiate competition have always been near the top. We have had a good time, but huve not neglected our work. It has been an enjoyable, a profitable, a worthwhile year. I am glad to have hud a part in this year's activities. I am sorry that they are drawing to a close. I regret that I shall not be with you next year; I wish you all happiness and success. gif'll IS teacher-training institution, with its newly-acquired title vtU of Teachers College, is feeling the responsibility of living up to the prestige and the standards that belong to its new rank as a college. Perhaps the greatest test of the value of the training given in a Teachers College is the type of young person, be it young man or young woman, which the institution sends into the teaching field year after vear. Scholastic ability and skill in the classroom are not all that is needed to qualify one as a teacher. At a time when social conventions and standards of conduct are rapidly changing, it take clear thinking, strong conviction and high ideals on the part of young people to direct their living in a way that will bring credit to themselves and their institution as well as to give satisfaction to the community in which they expect to work. Most thinking people believe heartily in the modern ideas of freedom and self-expression, provided an understanding of the true ntcuning of liberty is coupled with this demand for freedom. A democracy places much responsibility for self-direction and self-control upon the individual. Young people of today who have had the advantages of institutions of higher learning arc qualified to carry with them, into their work, the teachings and ideals of their institution. To the graduates of the classes of 1928, go best wishes for their success and unbounded faith in their uhilily to live and to work true to their highest ideals. Tteenty-Foir

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3£%R0FESS0R J. M. MAY came to our school in 1913 as an assistant in the Do partment of Agriculture, which had been started the previous year by Mr. Wells, who was then head of the department. Mr. May is a member of the gradu-ating class of 1910 of the Kansas State Agricultural College at Manhattan. During recent years he has been working for his master's degree at Cornell University. He is a member of Alpha Zeta, an honorary agriculture fraternity, and also the Cornell chapter of Phi Delta Kappa, a national education fraternity. Because of the decided success of Mr. May as a teacher in Nebraska and Minne-sota high schools, Mr. Crabtree, who was president of this school, selected him to come to River Falls as an instructor. Mr. Crabtree made both a wise and a fortunate choice when he chose this man for the position here, as has been evidenced by the progress and development of the Agricultural Department at River Falls since 1913. The department was moved, after lie Imd been here only one year, from the third floor of South Mall into the rooms of North Hall which are so familiar to all of us. It gained prominence at River Falls and recognition throughout this state. In 1918, five years after coming here, lie was rewarded for his devotion to the school and his constructive work by being made head of the department, whose expansion he had fostered. As we compare the two-year course of 1918 with the four-year degree granting course now offered, and the department of a few years ago with the present, which occupies a dozen very well equipped rooms in North Hall, we more thoroughly realize and appreciate the man who stands at the head of that progress. This year, through the combined efforts of the faculty of the department and President Ames, River Falls has been recognized by the State Board of Vocational Education as an institution qualified to train teachers for Smith-Hughes Agriculture Departments. Our school is now one of the two schools in the United States, other than universities, having this recognition. Because of his personal interest in the welfare of the men of his department, Mr. May succeeded in having a Smith-Hughes Agriculture Department made a pari of the River Falls High School. This make actual contact with that type of a department possible for the men of his department while they are at college. They do practice teaching in the regular agriculture classes of a Smith-Hughe School. They carry farm practice projects, supervise project work of high school boys, coach demonstration teams, and become familiar with the organization and methods of conducting a part-time school, in addition to their regular teacher training. Not only has Mr. May worked for the best interests of his department, but he has been an outstanding general asset to the school. His ability as a teacher has raised the standards of River Falls, and his intelligent guidance has contributed largely to the development of our school. The third-year class greatly appreciates the guidance and advice of Mr. May during our years here. We feel especially fortunate in having had him as our advisor, and we like him as advisor, as teacher, as man, and as friend.

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E. J. Prucha B. S. University of Wisconsin Agriculture, Registrar Arthur N. Johnson B. S. University of Wisconsin Agriculture Roy E. Spriggs B. S. Kansas State Agricultural College Agricultural Mechanics William Segerstrom Stout. Institute Manual Training Walter H. Hunt Ph. Ml Valparaiso University Director, Principals Department James I. Malott A- M. University of Missouri Psychology, Director of Rural Education Twenty-Five