Wells River High School - Chatterbox Yearbook (Wells River, VT)

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Since WRHS carries such a bulky schedule, it is desirable that everyone helps a little bit. However, this has not always happened. Too often cliques are formed in which the uncooperative band together. There are many reasons why the students in these groups refuse to participate in the school program. Some of these are valid and some are mere figments of the imagination. One reason is almost always accepted. That is low marks. The simple cure for this inability is study. Part of the student body feel they do not have time. I sympa- thize with this but urge that they try to make time. Undoubtedly, there are a few who feel that they are not wanted. Such introverts should get over that complex sometime. There is no better place to start than in high school. If any person is genuinely interested in some activity, his efforts will not be the subject of scorn, but will be appreciated. Wells River High School has been able, through the labors of at least part of the student body and faculty, to accomplish a great deal in the past few years, but a lot more could have been done if more students had given their support. There is much to be done in the future. It can be done much quicker and with a lot more enjoyment if the future graduates of WRHS will realize the necessity of coopera- tion. One of the most important lessons which the teenager in a democracy must be aware of before he or she becomes a man or woman is that of getting along with his fellowman. PHILIP R. CURRIER, Editor-in-Chief -------WRHS---------- SCHOOL NEWS The publishing of the Party Line” was continued this year. This time, subscriptions were sold in order to raise money for the supplies needed in printing it. Many thanks should go to the Editor-in-Chief, Deli Bailey, also the remainder of the staff, for the splendid work they have done throughout the year. We hope that in the tuture the paper will become bigger and better.” The Freshman Initiation was held October 11, 1951 at the school gym. Our freshmen appeared in numerous costumes. The sophomoies planned a program for the freshmen to do which was interesting for the onlookers and exciting to the freshmen. Volleyball was continued this year. Although there were very few participants, there was great sport involved. Soccer was again tried out but due to so very few participants, we were easily defeated. — Six —

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• • COOPERATION In the small school of Wells River cooperation is very important. It is much more so here to the individual than it is in some large insti- tutions. In a large school, it is possible for a person to go through his four years and very rarely be asked to go out of his way to do something for the school. That is not true here. Unless a person shows himself to be entirely antagonistic, he is frequently asked to give a part of his time in support of some school project. The explanation for this is simple. Even though we have a fairly small enrollment, we maintain a rather large list of activities. Most of these activities are necessary in a school regardless of its size. The rest of the activities could per- haps be dispensed with, but there is no need to if the students will get together and work as a group. Since there is so much to be done, it is obvious that all the students must share the voluntary burden. I am not certain that outsiders realize the number of activities WRHS has to offer its students. In the field of sports, the boys attempt to make a showing in basketball, baseball, and soccer. The girls play basketball and softball. For those who are not sports-minded, we have a number of One-Act Plays, a Prize Speaking and Spelling Contest and the Senior Play. There is also the problem of editing The Party Line, our school newspaper printed bi-monthly, and The Chatterbox which is this incomparable tome. Add to these, the Glee Club, suppers, food sales, the magazine drive, the fashion show, the Junior Prom and other numerous dances, and all the labors of graduation. Now that you have a general idea of the duties which must be performed, take a glance at our enrollment. Our high school is com- posed of 19 boys and 27 girls, a total of 46 students. The junior high gives a huge majority to the girls in the proportion of 15 to 4. Next, consider our faculty of five with the assistance of Mrs. Rowe of Wells River and Mr. Morey and Mr. Farrar of Newbury. It should be fairly obvious that cooperation is necessary if our activities are to be carried on. Some people are approached more than others because they possess some special talent such as typing or artistic ability. Still, there are numerous jobs which can be done by non-specialists. This might be a good place to mention that everyone is encouraged to participate in our sports program, providing his marks are passing. — Five —

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The seniors, November 2, bloomed forth with an unforgetable play, The Hobgoblin House.” A Public Speaking Contest was presented November 9. It was followed by a spelling contest. Idamae Chamberlain was the final winner for speaking and Richard Sherwin for spelling. The following week, the two winners went to St. Johnsbury to display their abilities. We are very proud to state that Richard Sherwin, a sophomore of W. R. H. S., did us great honor in outspelling other members of the Hill- dale League. Two of our senior boys, Kenneth Fiske and Samuel Hutchins, who attended agriculture classes, at Newbury, were very fortunate in being chosen to go to Boston on an Aggie field trip. They, along with other boys from Newbury, had a remarkable and educational trip. After several years of struggling through very boring chemistry classes, unable to experiment because of the lack of supplies, the chem- istry class of 1951-52 were very fortunate in having the opportunity of breaking in the extensive line of new supplies. The laboratory work has been very interesting and written work is much easier to con- centrate on and understand by having experiments to clarify our minds. A few slight accidents happened during the year; however, several lessons have been learned throughout the class. Hot lunches were served again this last winter. Unfortunately, Mrs. Zwicker was unable to be with us to cook those delicious dishes. However, we did have two other reliable and good cooks, Mrs. Cam- eron and Mrs. Mansfield. WRHS boys' basketball team was honored at the beginning of the season by having pictures taken by the Caledonian Record which later appeared in that paper. Again, the Seniors have patronized The W. Kay Vantine Studio letting them take the graduation pictures. Under the excellent guidance of Mrs. Wilson, the home economics classes have presented two very successful exhibitions during the school year; the first one, last fall, with a fall fashion show in the evening; another, this spring, consisting of an afternoon tea, exhibition of clothes made during the year followed by a very interesting and fash- ionable style show. A new program was encouraged between Wells River and New- bury. It was planned to have combined dances and fun nights, pre- sented alternately at the two schools. They were tried and were quite successful but were interrupted by basketball. The schedule this spring seemed to be too complete to continue the program. A Christmas party was conducted by the junior and senior high — Seven —