Whiting High School - Reflector Yearbook (Whiting, IN)

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 J. H. HOSKINSON Superintendent , i ., ,-t Board of Education has endeavored to discover all the defects in the heating sys'.eni of our plant and to correct them all at one time. We look with much pride, and justifiably so, upon the improvements above described, but I think the grade building being constructed at Wilcox should be contemplated with scarcely less interest. What the new Junior High School will mean for the community life of central Whiting, that building will mean for the community activities and life of the south side of our city. It will be a one story building of eight class rooms constructed around tlllt!IMlH!IUlllllJfllllUllll!IHUllIMlllltRlllllintllttllllllltltltHtttlllKntUHn!lt|lll!tl!III[l(!lll!I!IHIIillllUIIIH

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THE BUILDING PROGRAM By Supt. J. H. Hoskinson The building program of the W hiting Schools, which is now being actively and rapidly developed, comprises three separate and distinct features: The Junior High School shown above, a new central heating plant, and a grade building. All of these are now in the course of construction and will be in full use before the passing of many months, and which, when complete, will give the city of W hiting a building equipment unsurpassed in this State of good schools. The Junior High School, which in fact will be much more than a Junior High School .will have three tloors. The basement or ground floor will contain a kindergarten, lunch room, social or club room, offices of physical education, health and attendance departments, school store, swimming pool and gymnasium. I he floor of the latter is 54 x 6 feet, has balcony seats for six hundred spectators, showers, etc., and is complete in every way. On the first, or main floor, will be found the Principal’s office, lantern room, seven class rooms, and the Auditorium. I he second, or top floor, will be given over entirely to class rooms and the balcony of the auditorium. The building, centrally located as it is, will not only provide lacilities for an enlarged program of day and evening school activities, but will admit of large community use. The Auditorium with its splendid stage and seating capacity of nine hundred will probably be the finest and most commodious in the county. It will be equipped with permanent seats, a grand piano, and motion picture machine. The lunch room, social room, gymnasium and swimming pool will all facilitate larger community activities. The new heating plant will be built in and about the lower story of the present Auditorium building and will comprise an ample room for fuel storage, a set of new smokeless boilers, and a stack one hundred feet high. The entire heating equipment of the present buildings will be made over and adequate radiation installed in the present High School. In brief, the

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a central assembly room, large enough to accommodate athletic games, play, and public meetings of four or five hundred people. Fortunately the site of this building is ample to provide play space for much equipment as well as free play, which will count for so much in the lives of the children of that community. Wo k has already begun on all of these projects and is moving forward with rapidity. The heating plant and grade buildings are both scheduled to be complete and ready for use when the schools open September 5. The large building, or Junior High School, will be complete and ready to occupy entirely with the opening of the new year, January, 1923. We are promised the ground floor with its gymnasium, etc., complete and ready for use December 1, 1922. This will safeguard our athletic interest for next year, since the out-door work and the old gymnasium floor will fill the time and meet our demands till the new gymnasium is open. The accomplishment of the program described above is the fulfillment of our hopes and plans for the schools of Whiting of years standing. For the past six years and more this has been an outstanding enterprise toward the completion of which we have constantly looked and worked. Early in the year 1916, the Board of Education began to look about for a suitable site for the large building, which finally fell on New York Avenue, facing directly east from the High School. N. S. Spencer Son. Architects of Chicago, were chosen to design the buildings and how well they did their work is evidenced by the fact that they were retained as the architects of the complete budding program. The subsequent history of the movement could be written, 1 suspect, by almost anyone in Whiting, so familiar was it to every one and so filled with common interest. How we were delayed two years by the Great War, just as our plans were rapidly taking definite form, another two years by an arbitrary Tax Board and high prices, are facts known to all. Three successive years bids were received before satisfactory prices and contracts could be made. Finally on February 11, 1922, the contract for all general construction was awarded to English Brothers, of Champaign, Illinois, who began work on April 3, following. To the credit of our people who must bear the financial burden I might add that I have never seen a public enterprise projected anywhere which received such loyal and undivided support as this has. From the day a new building was suggested to this good hour if a single voice in the city of Whiting has been raised against it I have not heard of it, although a period of more than six years has elapsed and the expenditure of more than a half million dollars of public money was involved. The fixed purpose of the Board of Education to see the program complete and the patience of teachers and people through repeated delays should be commended. I am sure that the successful accomplishment of the task is sufficient reward for all who have been connected with it and will abundantly compensate for all inconveniences and delays of the past.