West High School - Warrior Yearbook (Rockford, IL)

Page 23 text:

nb. S, A ' .xi .K Qwf Mika! A - 1 :isa 'Q NF S Q W 'N-NX, ,w ku

Page 22 text:

. . . For tomorrow prepare- After those short telephone talks, those few minutes at the T and those nightly ice box raids, we sit down to our uendlessw homework. V,

Page 24 text:

l Squarely in Center Excitement at Wfest High School? What is it? From whence does it come? By whom is it experienced? When is it experienced? What causes it? What is its effect? What happens as a result of it? These questions include THE WHAT, THE WHOM, THE HOW, THE WHEN, and THE RESULTS of your exciting ex- periences. During your years at West High School, each new experience has proved exciting to you to the extent that it has awakened in you a realization of your best possibilities and, in turn, has stimulated you to strive harder to reach these potentialities. Planning your senior high school program of subjects in order that you might best prepare yourself for continued study or for employment either in business or industry presented a real problem to you, your parents, your teachers, and your counselors. Pursuing and revising your program on the bases of new in- terests, better developed understandings, and skills, or on unforseen possibilities demanded your best thinking throughout your three short years at West High School. As you progressed in each subject through these three years, you enjoyed many stimulating experiences. The constant pressure from English teachers requir- ing that you listen more attentively, that you speak more intelligently, that you read more understandingly, and that you write more clearly has forced you to develop skills that you will use throughout life. Your exposure to fiction, drama, and poetry has opened for you new vistas that will prove a source of satis- faction throughout life. Those of you who chose a foreign language found many new experiences as you became more proficient in understanding, speaking, reading, and writing the new language. Reading of history and historical fiction, listening to recordings of great orations, seeing and hearing important events portrayed on the screen, and partici- pating in citizenship projects have broadened your under- standings and improved your attitudes not only toward our own city, state, and nation, but toward the world at large. The insistence on the part of your mathematics teachers that you master the skills in the four funda- mental processes in simple whole numbers and in common and decimal fractions and the emphasis placed on understanding and skills in elementary, intermediate, and college algebra, plane and solid geomteryg and trigonometry proved real challenges to you at the time and will continue to prove most helpful either in your continued study or in your everyday work which necessitates this mathematical background. Experiments in the laboratory, field trips, reading, and lectures have revealed many facts and principles in the field of the sciences. Your knowledge of the plant, insect, and animal life in the area and your understanding of chemical and physical laws and principles will not only prove helpful in everyday life but, in addition, provide a background for additional study in the sciences. In the field of commerce, you enjoyed your opportunity to develop skills4in keeping systematic accounts, typing, operating office machines, and mastering and using the stenographic language. In the home economics department, you learned how to select and use patterns and materials for your wardrobe, to select, prepare, and serve foods for the family, to plan for construction, to select the furnishings, and to landscape your home, to understand the need for and the proper caredofbthe sick, to select the patterns and materials and to add some of those little touches which lend attractiveness to the home and to the war ro e. Through the industrial arts, you found opportunity to work in the automotive, cabinet, electric, machine, and printing shops or the drafting room where you acquired the understandings, attitudes, and skills that are essential to succeed in industrial fields. In the band, the choir, the orchestra, the glee clubs, and your formal musical classes, you have had many opportunities to develop new interests, standards of taste, and skills in the field of music. In art, through your use of paints, crayons, and water colors, you have expressed some of your own ideals and ideas on paper and canvas. Your work in crafts has also provided opportunities for artistic expressions in other forms. Your work in physical education, safety, and health has offered opportunities for recreation, physical development, better understanding, and the protection of your own safety and health. Through ROTC you have had opportunity to learn some of the fundamentals of military organization and activities. In athletics, dramatics, forensics, music, publications, Student Council, clubs, and classroom and other activities, you have found many occa- sions for excitement. As a participant, you have found that these additional experiences not only have been exciting at the time but also have provided opportunities for personal growth. As a spectator, you have found excitement in the success of the group or the individuals participating. There are many occasions for excitement at West High School. Acquiring new understanding, skills, and attitudes, although on an intellectual level, provide exciting experiences similar to those produced by the extra classroom activities of the school. Yes, there is excitement at West High School. This excitement exists in the mind and actions of the individual who derives satisfaction from evidences both of his own growth and that of his friends. JAMES E. BLUE, M.A., Principal of West Senior High School -james E. Blue, Principal 20