Valparaiso High School - Valenian Yearbook (Valparaiso, IN)

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MISS DEMA TIMMONS MR. AUDREY SKOMP SCIENTIFIC DEPARTMENT. |HE Scientific Department has this year played its most suc- cessful role in High School liistory. To give to the work in Physics more dignity and unity, the old recitation room was made into a combination labora- tory and recitation room, and has had a physical atmos- phere heretofore missing. Owing to the new arrangement, it has been possible at any time to turn from a formal recitation to an experi- ment illustrating the point under discussion and there has been no dis- tracting influence caused by passing from the top story to a cheerless room in the basement for laboratory work. Suitable cases for the apparatus have been added so that everything can be kept shipshape. Much apparatus has been added to the equipment with very little expenditure, through the kind assistance of the ever gracious teacher of the Manual Training department and the work of interested students. The revised edition of the old Millikin and Gale text book and their laboratory manual, i)ublished last August, have been regularly fol- lowed, nothing being omitted because of seeming difficulty. In getting things right and keeping manuals neat and up-to-date, much more than mere points in Physics has been learned. On days of recitation, aside from the regular work, numerous experiments suggested by the author have been performed by the students, each one being held responsible for the success of his work. The outline of work in Chemistrv has been much the same as in 18

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year may be had by those who wish to take it. The first year ' s work is a preparation for the interesting study to follow. Vocabularies, con- jugations, and declensions are learned, a thorough knowledge of the grammar is acquired, and short stories are translated. The two y ' ai-s of study which follow is merely a utilization of the foundation built during the first year. During the second year the accounts of the wars with the Helvetians, the Belgians, the warlike tribes who threat- ened the passage of the Alps, and with the Germans are translated from Caesar ' s own Commentaries. Cicero ' s Orations are taken up dur- ing the third year. There are four Orations against Catiline and his fellow conspirators, one concerning the Manilian Law, and the Archais. At the end of the third year the compulsory study of Latin has been com] ileted, but the most enjoyable and interesting part remains for those who read Virgil ' s Aeneid, the story of the nine years wanderings, trials and marvelous escapades of the Trojan Aeneas in his attempt to found a city. The Latin course gives the student a new interest in his own language, broadens his vocabulary and gives him an understanding of the foundations of our civilization that is necessary before he can appreciate that civilization. LEONORA WISE. 17

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former years, although the appearance of the room has been much changed by a new coat of paint and the erasure of former students ' names from the walls. The class was composed of Juniors and Seniors and the work required covered two terms. Bi-ownlee ' s First Princii)les and his accompanying manual have been used as texts. Each member in both Physics and Chemistry who expects to receive a credit for a year ' s work, is now prei)aring a thesis on some subject in which he is interested. Some of the subjects chosen are: The Gas Engine, The Conquest of the Air, Our City Water Supply, Chemistry and Medicine, Fertilizers, and The Recent Achieve- ments of Physics. Much to the disap})ointment of the instructor, who is fully pre- pared for that work. Agriculture was not taught this year, because a class of the required number could not be obtained. In the second term of Botany, however, the subjects of Forestry, Crops, and Crop Industries have been taken up and with the aid of the laboratory, which they have had this year for the first, considerable very interesting and i rofitable work in Botany, as well as Zoology, has been carried on. In the labora- tory of the first term of Botany, Payne ' s Experimental Botany has been used, from which each student has been required to write up fifty experi- ments. In Botany II each pujiil has made a collection of thirty differ- ent leaves, and has obtained a photograph of some forest problem, and a diseased specimen in orchard work. In Zoology a collection of twenty different insects was required. The Zoology department has about two hundred ])repared si)ecimens of different animals, many of which were studied during the term ' s work. A large acjuarium in which different zoological specimens were cared for has added much to the already interesting work. An important part of the course in all the science work has been the numerous excursions to the outside world of Physics, Chemistry, Botany, and Zoology. Among the places visited are the Wireless room at Dodge ' s Institute of Telegraphy, the gas factory, ] fr. E. S. Miller ' s bee farm, sand pits, and the old mill at Sager ' s Lake. At the time this article is written the members and teachers of the department are look- ing forward to a day of exhibition and visiting, on which everything connected with the work will be open for the inspection of friends of the school, in i artieular, and of Science, in general. We can truly say that the never failing, energ( tic, and enduring courage of our teachers has aroused and stimulated the faint and spas- modic interest of the ordinary High School pupil in the Science depart- ment and transformed it into one of genuine enthusiasm of which Val- paraiso may well be proud. CHESTER FAY. 19