West Salem High School - Neshonoc Yearbook (West Salem, WI)

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SENIORS 1912 ALKXA WILSON ELLA CRLNK MYRTLE MILLER CHRIS1INE lOLLEFScN

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SENIORS 1912 SELMA GUDMUNDSON EDNA SPRAIN KA'l HEKINE GRISWOLD HARRY KIRMSE

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CLASS HISTORY September 16, 1912. was indeed a gala day in the history of the West Salem High School because it added to its roll sixteen freshmen radiant in spirit and abounding in wisdom, not conceit, as some authorities would lead to infer; but rather a definite knowledge of their own unsurpassed capabilities as those of that status are prone to be. 1 say we were sixteen in number, gathered at different times thru the grades. Only these of us had come from the primary together; Selma Gun-mundson, Harry Kirmse and myself. Edna Sprain had joined us in the fifth grade, Ella Cronk in the sixth, and Christine Tollefson in the seventh. Several enrolled themselves with us on entering High School and of that number Myrtle Miller and Alexa Wilson have remained to finish their course. There is a certain timidity, a vague dread about entering High School, which we felt in common with all others who have come to the entrance of the arena. Perhaps it is a certain horror at being responsible to four dignitaries instead of one; or a fear of being smiled upon by those older and more experienced in the manners and customs of the High School. Let me say to you who expect to enter as Freshmen; do not allow your knees to knock together or “vox faucibus haerere et comae stare. If your teeth are prone to chatter, clinch them, put on a bold front, for it is the fearful ones that are called “slow.” How we ever passed the first day without any serious blunders is still a mystery. No one even suggested in which direction we would find the library or that the teachers might be calling upon us when they spoke to Miss or Mr. So and So. After all it is a Chinese puzzle that works itself out pretty well; just follow the mob and use your common sense. But after school—ah then! You may go to a town meeting or a prayer meeting but if yon have never been to a class meeting you have something to learn. I don’t mean this reformed style of meeting where the class has been drilled for two previous days in parliamentary practise and then has a teacher present to prevent anyone from speaking. I mean the old fashioned kind, governed by students or not governed, We held one after the old style. If there was ever an institution conductive to a spirit of independence it was that. I think that the meeting was called in the laboratory but before it was adjourned it had held sessions in every room on the upper floor. It was a Freshmen meeting, called for the purpose of electing class officers but the majority