West High School - Warrior Yearbook (Rockford, IL)

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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

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f Activities Stand Principal and His Aides Richly deserved honors have come to Principal james E. Blue this year in recognition of his service to education. He was elected president of the National Association of Secondary School Principals at the national convention of the group of 12,000 principals and 1.500 other schoolmen in Milwaukee. XX'isconsin. on April 25. Before his elevation to the national presidency. Mr. Blue served the association on its executive committee and as first vice president and second vice president. He also worked with NASSP as a member of the board of trustees of the National Honor Society 1945-193 as a member of the scholarship committee. NHS. 19-491511 and as chairman of the scholarship committee, NHS, 1952. Earlier in the year XVest's leader received the recognition of outstanding achievement award of the Illinois Secondary School Principals' Association. The citation says in part. In the capacity of principal, Mr. Blue has fices in the Illinois Secondary School Principals' Association and has been an outstanding contributor to its growth offered superior leadership in developing an excellent school which holds an enviable position. He has held of-xl and development. . . . He was one of the 'founding fathers' of the Illinois Curriculum program 119351. being president th i- nois association during the years in which the association sponsored the initiation of the program. ir t ast six years he has been. and continues to be. an extremely active and dynamic member of the executi e c mittee of the steering committee of the Illinois Curriculum program. He is a fearless and farsighted member of the National Commission on Life Adjustment Education for Youth and of the joint Council on Economic Education .... Mr, Blue is an administrator who possesses the rare ability of commanding the respect and affection if stu- dents. teachers, and administrators while he is encouraging them to work together on many improvement rojects in a harmonious and effective way. It is this ability. his straightforward way of tackling and solving problems, and his professional integrity that through the years have been largely responsible for the strength and effec- tiveness of service which on this occasion the Illinois Secondary School Principals' Association recognizes in Mr. Blue. In addition to his regular duties as dean of boys, Assistant Principal john XV. XX'yeth serves as athletic business manager and sponsor of R -Club. Miss L, Camilla Johnson. dean of girls, is sponsor of Student Council and is in charge of all general arrangements for social events. The three class counselors carry on an extensive guidance program. Miss Dorothy Knill. senior counselor, ar- ranges group and individual meetings with college representatives and business and professional men and women to acquaint seniors better with the outside world. To help juniors learn more about their tentative interests, Mrs. Myrtle Olson. their counselor, presents information on various professions. often through the use of motion pictures. Miss Carolyn XX'ones. sophomore counselor, helps her charges to become better acquainted with the school and to choose their studies and activities wisely so that they will derive the greatest benefits from their years at XVest. The building of citizens through education is the goal of Superintendent of Sthools XXV Ray Mclntosh. He and the members of the hoard of education strive to develop better schools and facilities for the children of Rockford. A concrete evidence of this objective was shown this year by their successful efforts to secure the passage of a bill to provide three new grade school buildings, a junior high school building. and additional money for the educa- tional fund. Brin-d of Ed.'fr.i1im1. Bari Ruzc: Mr. Charles H. Davis fattorneyl. Mr. -lohn nl. Barelli. Mr. I-Iearl A. Peeples, Mr. Arthur XV. Lundahl tassistant superintendentj. Mr. W. Ray Mclntosh tsuperintendentl. Mr. Ralph E. Thomas, Mr. joseph A. Lambiotte, Mr. Hugh D. Tolmie fdirector of building. groundsj. Mr. Bernard P. Magnuson, Mi'. Rupert H. Gustafson. Fmnl Roux' Mrs. Murrell G. Englund fsecretaryl. Miss Vera E. XValling tadministrative assistantj. Mr. Elmer M. jepson tpresidentj. Mrs. Mary B. Carlson. Mr. Alvin R. Kjell. Mr. Fred C. Olson. jr. sa- c at . as 'w i iiifs . .,.., is - . . - , ' A c X Riglalx john XV. Vfyeth. M.A., assistant principal, dean of boysg L. Camilla johnson. M.A.. dean of girlsg Dorothy A. Knill, M.A., senior class counselor: Myrtle I. Olson, M.A., junior class counselorg Carolyn R. XVones, M.A., sophomore class counselor. ,rf