Wheaton Academy - Compass Yearbook (Wheaton, IL)

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Darien A. Straw was dean of the Academy from 1882-1910. He assisted in raising the aca- demic standards of the Academy. Dr. Straw was succeeded by Dean Walter S. Pemberton who remained in office until 1915. William F. Rice then became the new dean. When Dr. Rice began his term of service, the nation was headed towards World War I. But, although stormy years were ahead for the nation, and indeed, the whole world, Wheaton Academy was being led by a man of vision and years of promise lay ahead for the school. Under the administration of Dr. Rice, the Acad- emy became a member of the North Central As- sociation, and as such, an accredited school of Class A. This rating is still maintained today. Jesse W. Doolittle was dean of the Academy from 1922-1924. A highlight of these years was the organization of the first distinct Academy literary society. The idea was proposed to the senior class who enthusiastically took it up. They called themselves the Kreitonians . In 1924, when Edward R. Schell became dean, Wheaton Academy had come a long way from the unfinished stone building on the barren prairie in 1853. And Dean Schell saw even great- er things ahead. One instance of the way he worked is the story of the library. ln 1924, when Dean Schell was installed, the library consisted of a small bookcase containing a few technical books. But when he left in 1949, the Academy library boasted 2500 circulating books, twenty complete sets of reference books, and one hun- dred pamphlets. During a year's leave of absence for Dean Schell, to do graduate study in 1927, Enoch C. Dyrness served as acting Dean, leaving this position in 1928 to become Registrar of the col- lege. Many changes in curriculum were made during these twenty-five years to aid students in a changing society. Some of the newer courses added were, industrial geography, commercial law, home economics, American democracy, typing, physiology, general science, and journal- ism. Miss Gudrun Thorlakson, in her History of Wheaton Academy, wrote in 1944, of Dean Schell's administration, Under Dean Schell there has been constant progress, there is nothing static in his administration. Every part of the building is being utilized, and plans for greater efficiency are constantly being made. ln 1945, the College trustees purchased the Prince Crossing School for Crippled Children from the University of Chicago. Mr. C. B. Hurst was director of the Academy the first year on its new campus. After one year Dean Schell took over the administrative reins again. Many changes were made in the campus 18 Dr. Darien A. Straw, Dean from 1882 to 1910. Devoted to the work of the Academy, he did much to put the school on a sound basis, scholastically and materially and in the buildings to facilitate normal school life, so that by 1949, when Dean Schell retired, the school was completely equipped with boys' and girls' dormitories, ten classrooms, library, kitchen and dining facilities, a large modern gymnasium, and accomodations for five faculty families. In 1949, Rev. Robert l. Gilbert succeeded Dean Schell as Director of the Academy. Under his administration, plans were made and com- pleted for the chapel which is now one of the most attractive buildings on the campus. The great moving of the Lord at Wheaton College in 1950, which came to be known in newspapers across the land, as the Wheaton revival , really began the week before at the Academy, when Torrey Johnson of the Youth for Christ movement was speaker at the fall evangelistic services. The words of the anony- mous alumnus of 1855 fit. . . . many students were led to come out on the Lord's side . . . In 1953'Rev. Gilbert left the academy to serve the Lord at the First Baptist Church in Wheaton. He was succeeded for a semester by Mr. Thomas J. Crofts, whose tireless efforts brought about many improvements in the phys- ical plant of the school. Years of labor . . .

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He which hath begun u good wark... .v QQ' V, L: - A 4 . .V V Q ., 7 7 1. r f , .4 1. . ., A . ' f . r '. . 1 1 'T A r - , Three Academy administrations. Dr. Rice was dean from 1915 to 19225 Dr. E. R. Schell, 1924 to 1949, Rev. R. l.. Gilbert, 1950 to 1952. And what of now? Why tell the story of the past unless the present really is the fulfillment of what was once a dream, the living evidence of what a few men dared to imagine? Why de- vote these few pages to history unless today is proof that when men in the past thought they were being led by God's own hand, they really were? The rest of our yearbook is given over to today's story and the future. So it is not for us to go into all the exciting and interesting details of everyday life at Wheaton Academy today. But let us answer the questions we have raised. Why did we tell this story? The founding fathers wanted their children's education to be based upon the Bible and centered in Christ. That was 1853. But what about 1953? Cyril Garrett has iust taken over the the administrative reins of the Academy, and the Lord's stamp of approval has been given in the form of a new awaken- ing to Christ, and a sharpened awareness of sin in the lives of the entire student body. Every day students are living and growing in Him, the Lord . . . in whom trusting . . . our found- ing fathers went . . . boldly into the thickest of me fight . . 20 We, the young people of today live in one of the most challenging periods of all history. Scientists have called it the beginning of the Atomic Age. A new and daring form of ex- pression has taken over the minds of the gen- iuses of the arts. America is assuming a more challenging position of world leadership and authority than she has ever before experienced. Nations of the world are taking sides to pre- pare for a conflict which may emerge at any time as World War Ill. We at Wheaton Academy believe that we have the answer to this challenge. Our slogan, For Christ and His Kingdom states, simply but truly, our reason for existence. In other words we believe that Christ is the answer. Now, as we embark upon the next one hun- dred years, we are sobered by the thought that we, like America, hold a unique position in the world. The next one hundred years may be cut short at any time by the coming of the very King in glory. Ours is the serious challenge of taking to the ends of the earth the goods news of Christ and His Kingdom.