Western Michigan University - Brown and Gold Yearbook (Kalamazoo, MI)

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of Rural Education. I remained there for three years, then came to the Massachusetts Agricultural College at Amherst, Massachusetts, as head of the Department of Rural Sociology, a position I still hold in addition to my other work. In 1918 I was made Director of Short Courses in this college. We have numerous short courses, ranging from two weeks to two years in length, a student body of seven or eight hundred stu- dents during the course of a year. I am supposed to direct these activities, academic and otherwise. A friend of mine, in Amherst College, an institution in the same town, made such a pertinent remark in regard to my duties, that I give it in closing. He asked me what I had to do, and I tried to tell him. ' Ah, ' he said, ' I see, I think that your duties are not very clearly differentiated from those of the janitor. ' With best wishes for all ' Westerns ' . Yours very truly, JOHN PHELAN. WAYNE B. McGLINTOGK Western State Normal — Manual Training ' 09 It gives me great pleasure to recall the days I spent as a Manual Training stu- dent in the Western State Normal. Most of the work of the department at that time was done in the old Kalamazoo Manual Training Building at the corner of West and Vine streets. I have looked back many times to the careful instruction imparted and the sympathy given to his students by Geo. S. Waite, then head of the department. His instructions have ever been an inspiration to me in my work. During the school years of 1907 and 1908 there were about ten men in the Manual Training Department. I recall vividly such men as Ted Sowle, Earl Gar- ringer, Walter Wheater, Tub Myers, Harry Whitney, Gerald Whitney, Cliff Ball, Doc Huff and others. The equipment of the shops at that time was small and inadequate but in my few years of experience I have come to the conclusion that the physical properties of a school have little to do with the fundamental training of students. The small classes and personal touch I had with the faculty at that time was of more value to me than more technical training would have been. Four men completed the Manual Training course in 1909, namely: Melvin Myers, Director at Port Huron; (lerald Whitney, Assistant State Director of Indus- trial Education, State of Pennsylvania; Harry Whitney, Oshkosh State Normal, Osh- kosh, Wisconsin ; and myself. My first position was to establish the Manual Training Department in the Benton Harbor schools where I taught and coached Athletics for three ' ears. I then went to Marquette, Michigan, as supervisor of Manual Arts. I had four assistants in the department. After two years in this work I was elected Principal of the Mar- quette High School which had an enrollment of three hundred ninety students and a faculty of twenty-six teachers. In June, 1915, I accepted a position at the Northern State Normal School, to install there the Manual Arts and Physical Training Departments. At that time the Northern State Normal had few men students. As the departments grew I had to give up one or the other so I chose to follow the Manual Arts work.

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ALUMNI JOHN PHELAN Wc who are students at Western lia e biit a small idea of the s reatness of this institution. It is not until we heconie workers in the held that we dis- co er what it has done for you and me. So often too we think of Western sim- ply in terms of the people who are here now. et there are numbers throughout this coimtry who are truer Western- ers than we; peo|ile, who have already carried the ideals and standard of this school into practice. We are justly proud when we read of the records of our successful Alumni. Their work is a gleam for us to follow. Some messages from a few of our most worthy graduates will gi e us a jiicture of the earlier life at this school ; they will also tell us of the story of their de elopment into their present positions; lastly will be shown the appreciation they ha e of our guides, the facult) ' . Here is a letter from a graduate who is now at Amherst, Massachusetts. Even though fifteen years have elapsed since Commencement Day the word ' Western ' means as much to me now as it did then. Fifteen years ago the institution was not large; we knew practically all the students and all the staff. We were trying to get a football team organized. I can still remember the derisive shout of a young- ster who said, ' That ' s the Western Normal Team ' . But the next year Bill Spaulding came and we won the first ' Ypsi ' game. That was a real satisfaction. President Waldo mentioned once or twice, I think, that Vest ern was going to be a great institution. Ernest occasionally matle a few remarks to indicate that he was interested in rural education. John Fox in those days thought he could box. He was teacher of ph sics and mathematics. One day he invited Charles Johnson and myself into the physics laboratory where behind locked doors we put on the gloves. During the encounter John ' s nose was slightly injured. After that he confined himself to physics and mathematics. But I must not run on. I can honestly say that ' Western ' did mean more for me both while I was there and since I was graduated than any other institution. It serves its stiulents not only in the institution but later in professional life. What have I done since? First I went to the IJ. of ] I. and took the Bachelor ' s and Master ' s degrees. Then I returned to Kalamazoo as acting head of the Rural School Department. From Kalamazoo I went to the Normal School at Stevens Point, Wisconsin, taking with me as Mrs. Phelan the former head of the Training School, Miss Ida M. Densmore. At Ste ens Point I had charge of the Department

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I have taught at the Northern State Normal eight years and enjoy the teacher training work very much. My department is growing rapidly and our aim is to specialize in the training of Grade and Junior High School teachers. I have as my assistant Frank R. Martin, Western Normal 12 who has been an important factor in the development of the Manual Arts Department at Northern Normal. Since leav- ing Western Normal I have continued my preparation, having spent seven summer sessions at various colleges and universities and in the future plan to spend a year in residence at University of Wisconsin. IVIrs. McClintock (Myrtle Hayward) myself and our two sons, David (eleven) and Walter (five) are living at 1023 North Front St. and would be glad to hear from any of our old friends. May I through Brown and Gold send greetings and best wishes to the faculty, Alumni and students.