Vandergrift High School - Spectator Yearbook (Vandergrift, PA)

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“DREAMS COME TRUE” ERHAPS many of our imaginative scholars have idly dreamed of V. H. S. with a wonderful auditorium, and a very modern gymnasium, but have they let their dreams go so far as to imagine a swimming pool ? Somehow, in the past, we have gotten along without these modern equipments of every school, but can we say our school was up to the standard? In some things, “Yes”; in others, “No”. How can any school keep its athletics up to the standard without a place for practice ? Our basket ball activity has been of the average but this year the boys have entered upon the season with a vim and determination to win, which, although it should not be unusual, may be given credit to our new gymnasium and its effect upon them. As yet the girls have not practiced for basket ball, but they have organized and expect to start practicing in the near future. More than likely they will be urged on by the same spirit as the boys. So far no plan for daily practice in the gym has been made, but this will probably come, after the biuldings are entirely completed. Without our auditorium we students of V. H. S. have missed some of the most interesting and beneficial times of our school days. W'e have missed the early fellowship of a daily chapel exercise which almost every other school enjoys. Previously in Vandergrift, we have lacked what might be termed a center of all things, which our auditorium will now supply. All kinds of entertainment can be held here and meetings of all sorts, religious or educational. Lecture courses can be given which heretofore, we have not had because we did not have a convenient place for the holding of such things. Now this will be changed and I’m sure not only the students, but the citizens of Vandergrift will receive the benefit of the auditorium. The auditorium has a very large stage and a seating capacity of about seventeen hundred. The swimming pool seems to incite more interest among the students than any of the other attractions probably because it is new, for not every school can boast of a swimming pool. The people of the town will get the benefit of this addition as well as the others.

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18 THE SPECTATOR faculty is a history of repeated horrors and tyrannical outrages. To prove this let facts be submitted to a candid public: They have forbidden our taking strolls at various intervals over our beautiful and extensive campus. When a crime is committed we are sent to the judge’s office without witnesses and prosecuted without a trial by jury. They have cruelly taxed us with extremely heavy tests such as most of our fellow-students are unable to meet. They do not permit us to have any voice in the making of the laws. New instructors are being installed and every one is a sworn enemy to the students. They have refused to let us test that great saying “Great minds run in the same channel” by prohibiting our talking to our friends and seeing what is really running through their minds. They have taken the joy from the Hallowe’en Season, by levying atrocious bimonthly tests—due the week previous to Hallowe’en. They have persisted in overloading our careworn minds with lengthy and difficult lessons thereby necessitating our staying in nights, studying, when we might be having a most profitable and enjoyable time elsewhere. Moreover, we have given no cause for these outrages. Our princely behavior deserves no such reward; our magnanimity and conscientious performance of sacred duties is worthy of the finest treatment at the hands of the esteemed faculty. We therefore, the Representatives of the Senior Class of ’24, in general meeting assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of Education, do in the name and by the authority of our most worthy classmates, solemnly publish and declare that they are henceforth subject only to their own wills; and are absolutely free of any tyrannical sway on the part of the aforementioned Professor, Faculty, and School Board. And for support of this declaration, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, our honor. The foregoing Declaration was by order of Committee, engrossed and signed by the following officials— President, Delbert Secrist Vice President, Pauline Bolar Secretary, Winona Love Treasurer, Howard Hill

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20 THE SPECTATOR Plans have been made to hold swimming classes in the evening for the town folks. Let us hope that in the pleasure and enjoyment we get from these additions, we will not forget our regular studies, which in the long run, mean more to us and the standard of our school than athletics. Just a word of thanks to all the friends of our school, who did their part, in helping to bring this wonderful work about. Let us hope that they themselves will get the benefit as well as the students of Vander-grift High School. —Catherine Gregg, ’24. AMERICA’S FIRST COLLEGES w w iARVARD, the oldest institution for £ 1 higher education in America, was founded sixteen years after the landing of the Pilgrims. From the earliest days to the present time it has secured a leadership among educational institutions in the United States. It was the first to allow the changes of education, the most important of these being the elective system (This system allows the student to select his own studies). From this institution three of our most important and popular presidents have graduated, John Adams, John Quincy Adams, and Theodore Roosevelt. Not only men in the political field have graduated from here; but men of literature also. The name Harvard was given to the institution in honor of a Puritan who had died and left his fortune and his small library amounting to 250 books in general, to the institution. Princeton University is located in Princeton, New Jersey. This institution was founded by the Presbyterians of New York as a college of New Jersey. This university consists of three different departments, the academic, science, and the graduate department. It was the first American college to make provisions regarding chemistry and was among the first to recognize the elective system. It is also to be praised as a college where some of the founders and builders of the nations were at one time registered among the student body. Yale University is situated in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded by ten ministers. It was later named Yale in honor of a son of one of the founders of New Haven. This institution is recognized as a school of several different departments such as the graduate, arts, science, academic, theology, philosophy, law, and medicine departments. It is also noted for its valuable library consisting of about 600,000 volumes. One thing significant regarding this insti- tution is the forest school, which was founded in 1900 by Mr. and Mrs. Pinchot and sons. Graduates of this school are given a special degree of master of forestry. Columbia University is one of the oldest and most important institutions in the United States. This university is situated in New York overlooking the Hudson river. In 1754 a charter was granted by King George II and the college was called Kings. Later some years after the close of the Revolutionary war the school was called Columbia. Some of the most important departments are the professional schools, the college of physicians and surgeons, the schools of mining engineering, chemistry and teachers. Women are admitted as professional students to the teachers college and to the college of pharmacy. William and Mary College is situated at Williamsburg, Virginia and is one of the oldest institutions of higher education for men in the United States. The charter was granted in 1693 by William and Mary of England. It is supported by the state of Virginia and during the Revolutionary war it was given up by the students as a barrack for soldiers. From here, three of our presidents have graduated and a host of other prominent men such as army officers, senators, governors, and ministers. Vassar College is located near Poughkeepsie, New York. It was the generosity of Matthew Vassar who donated 200 acres with $800,000 for the founding of a college for women. It is one of the oldest and foremost of American colleges. The campus is on a hill near the Hudson. Many of the large buildings are gifts of the alumnae and the trustees. Mrs. Fredrick F'rris Thompson donated a library consisting of 9,000 volumes as a memorial for her husband who had served as a trustee for many years. Vassar has a faculty of 145 and the student registration is 1,100. —Dorothy Lauffer, :24.