Westmont Hilltop Senior High School - Phoenician Yearbook (Johnstown, PA)

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Dedication In order to show our admiration, appreciation, and friendship for a woman, who is devoted whole-heartedly to her work and who has kindled in the hearts of her students a love for biology and nature, we, the Senior Class, dedicate this Phoenician to Miss Elsie D. Canan.

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THE P H O E N I C 1 A N The History of the School Westmont-Upper Yoder High School The Westmont-Upper Yoder High School is one of the best schools of its size in Pennsylvania. Though it began as a very small common school, it had high educational ideals and athletic standards which have been continuously maintained. In 1916 the Westmont Borough was informed by the Johnstown High School that they could no longer take care of the tuition students. The school board, after consulting Dr. Bcntz, learned that the Upper Yoder district also needed a high school. Consequently, a joint high school was built by Westmont Borough and Upper Yoder Township. The building was completed in 1919, but the officials soon realized that it was not large enough to accomodate the increasing numbers who entered each year. Therefore, eight new rooms, a cafeteria, an auditorium, and gymnasium were added to the original building in 1924. The lack of an auditorium before 1924 did not prevent the dramatically inclined students from displaying their talent. The first dramatics essay was presented on the Mound in 1922 in the Shakespearean play “A Mid-summer Night’s Dream.” Nor did the absence of a “Gym” prevent our ambitious atheletes from playing basketball and football. In 1919 tlie players brought their own suits anil played their home games on the Old Grove floor. Many times the floor was covered with water, but that didn’t hinder the Westmont basketball team. The girls, likewise brought their own elongated black trunks and played on the Grove floor, when the bovs weren’t using it. Football, which started in 1924, was also a makeshift affair in regard to equip- ment. Most of the games were played on the Old Golf Links. After a tussle on this muddv field the players retired to the old Westmont Golf Club showers to regain their lost identity. The first educational routine, which consisted of Science, Algebra, English, Latin, Histoiy, Domestic Science, Mechanical Drawing, and the Commercial Subjects, had