West Rowan High School - West Wind Yearbook (Mount Ulla, NC)

Page 26 text:

SENIOR CLASS Ah! there is happiness and yet a tinge of sadness in the air tonight. Why? Graduation is near. It is with great pride and antici- pation that we are about to realize one of our fondest dreams. As each of you may well know there are certain distinctions which have set our class aside. Not only is it one of the smallest classes ever to graduate from Mount Ulla, but it is the one with the highest percentage of honor students. We are the first class to gradu- ate since the end of World War II, and since the addition of the twelfth grade—but now let us draw back the curtains of time and take a brief résumé. How long and yet how short these four years have been! The four years that began when sixty-four frightened freshmen valiantly ventured into the broad halls of Mount Ulla High School one hot August morning in nineteen hundred forty-four. With our crisp new dresses on and ribbons in our hair, the boys with bright scrubbed faces, we timidly made our debut. Did I say timidly!? One might say that, but after all the dashing and scamper- ing about our timidity soon changed to bewildered excitement and other emotions bordering on terror. Where were we going next? What was behind that door? Oh goodness! where am I supposed to go and why is that bell ringing? My, look at these big thick books! Do you think we’ll like that teacher? Is this what we’ve been waiting for all these years? Why? Oh! Why? do these August days have to be so hot? With these and dozens of other questions buzzing in our brains we doggedly struggled through the first hectic days of high school life. And, as if matters weren’t bad enough already, they divided us into two groups, one of which was in the care of Mr. Deal. The other? It is was way down the hall in Mrs. Sink’s room. We elected as our class presidents, Marion Lefler and Elizabeth Little. With their help and the guidance of our two teachers, we finally settled down and began to learn things. The highlight of the year came when fifteen lucky classmates were initiated into the National Honorary Beta Club. These happy students were: Emma Jane Sloop, Sue Hamby, Ruth Graham, Mar- garet Cress, Sara Helen Edwards, Tommie Nell Edwards, Norma Graham, Jean Morris, Elizabeth Little Marion Lefler, Bryce Kepley, Gene Beard, Charles Poston, Herman Graham and Larry Graham. The social event of the year was the Home Economics-Agriculture banquet. I think Marion especially had a good (?) time at the banquet. As time moved on, this group of frightened freshmen moved to the rank of sophisticated sophomores (or so we thought). Of course we had every intention of being sophisticated, but if you had seen the leoks on Emma Jane’s and Martha Lou’s faces when they hur- riedly left Mrs. Sink’s biology class, you probably would have thought (as Mrs. Sink did) that instead of being sophisticated we were quite silly. On calling the roll we found that two of our members, Gene Goodnight and Frank Glover, had left us to join the Navy. Our home- room teachers this year were Miss Bowles and Miss Mayhew. Among other things, we had a lot of fun sponsoring the King and Queen contest at the Hallowe’en carnival. We had some lovely spooks and witches at the carnival and incidentally, I think some of them forgot to take off their false faces. This, being the last year of eleventh grade graduation, there was no junior class, so the sophomores rose to the occasion and enter- tained the seniors at the annual Junior-Senior Prom. Not only was this the first Junior-Senior Prom given by the sophomores, it was also the first to be held at Christmas. About the time we really got settled, and felt that we had at last earned our title, we found that we were no longer sophomores in any sense of the word.

Page 25 text:

MT HIGH SCHOOL

Page 27 text:

HISTORY Yes, this shining bunch of geniuses had taken another step in their sparkling career. With no pretenses this time we simply let ourselves be known as the “jolly juniors.”” We were very surprised to find that our number had so greatly decreased that we were all able to get into the same room at the same time. Five more classmates were now in the Beta Club. Nancy Davis, Eloise Kennerly, and Bobby Cline having been taken in the previous year and Betty Kyles and Carolyn Brown who were initiated during this year. Following the advice of our teacher, Miss Bost, we decided that since there would be no graduating class or anything to stand in our way, we would take advantage of our opportunities and earn some money. With Bobby as President and Margaret as Secretary we set to work. First we sold (oh! I almost forgot Joe. How could I? He was class Treasurer). As I was saying, we began our project by selling magazines. Not satisfied with the money from this, we con- tinued by selling stationery. We were very pleased with our pro- ceeds, but decided that nothing was too good for the best, so we sponsored a square dance and made our tidy sum just a little tidier. And then at last! at last we were seniors. I think Herman and Steven Lynn pretty well expressed everyone’s feelings when they went running down the hall shouting, “Hek, look at me everybody, Tm a SENIOR!” But the shouts soon turned to moans as lesson upon lesson piled upon our weary and defenseless shoulders. We French students were very excited upon learning that we were to have a French War-Bride for our teacher. The lessons really were exciting (even if we didn’t know what was going on at first) and now we are all proud of our accents. It was a great surprise to find that our number had now dimin- ished to thirty-five. And we were wonderfully pleased to find that Miss Bowles was again to be our teacher and sponsor. Upon counting noses we found that two more of our boys, Gene Beard and Tom Barger, had gone into the Navy. We also found in this counting, two more good reasons for the previously mentioned distinctions of the class. These reasons were Grady Corriher and Andy Goodnight. We are indeed proud to have these veterans of the Navy in our class. Immediately upon entering our Senior year of high school we applied Miss Bowles’ favorite motto, “Don’t Waste Time,” and elected our class officers and annual staff, ordered our rings and invitations, and began work on the annual. On Thursday, October 31, we suffered the loss of one of our most efficient and popular members, Sarah Elizabeth Little, affectionately known as “Lib.” Our invitations to the Junior-Senior Prom brought with it the realization that our “school days” are about over. And what a prom it was. The gym was so elaborately and beautifully decorated that it flattered even us. It held stiff competition, however, when all the girls flowed in, dressed in their breath-taking formals. Many thanks Juniors. May you be entertained in just such a manner when you are Seniors. As you can well see, the past four years have written a full and illustrious history for this, the Senior Class of nineteen hundred and forty-seven. May the coming years inscribe for you, underclassmen, one fully as worthy. And now, if you will kindly excuse me, I have just time enough to send this document to the Rowan Printing Com- pany so that in the years to come the annuals of this great senior class will live on record as it lives in our hearts and lives. BETTY PARKER Historian