Wyomissing Area High School - Colophon Yearbook (Wyomissing, PA)

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Now . . . the Grade School xxx We knew Ibm portal Demoted Alla' 11121 one If r Page S

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Page SIX lntruduution tu the EW With great anticipation we watched our new school building grow from the foundation stage in October l938 to comple tion last December lt is everything and even more than ex pected from cupola to impressive entrance Ideally located at Cambridge and Evans Avenues it combines the spacious ath letic held pavilion and tennis courts into a concentrated plan ot activity units The building backgrounded by long fields that strctch to the taint blue hills stands back seventy yards from the street on beautifully landscaped grounds The plan ot the building itselt is an important improvement over the old lt has two wings and a central school section which includes the ottice classrooms and library Each wing is a complete umt This arrangement is expecially practical on school entertainment mghts when either the auditorium or gymnasium may be isolated tor use from the rest ot the building The auditorium which accommodates two hundred more persons than the old has one ot the largest high school stages in the state complete with velour and olio curtains cyclorama atrical make up rooms Too the colonlal designed library is unusually magnificent with its sculptured doorways pillars and ceiling Another pride of our school the new gymnasium which is more than twice the size ot the former gym lt is equipped with movable bleachers a corrective room and a large toldtng door which divides the floor 1nto two sections for crowded class periods A beautiful exhibition alcove IS the en trance to the art room which has also a separate sculpture room lurmshed with up to date art materials ln the domestic science division there is a special fitting room small breakfast nook tor teas and lunches and entire new cooking equipment The science department too is a big improvement A dark room tor previewing and developmg pictures roomy cabinets and showcases and stationary laboratory desks are the main features These plus added advantages make our school a symbol ot a new progressive era in which education is the thing We are proud to be its first graduating class . f 1 ' , . I - background, special lighting and sound equipment, and the- - ' I , , , . , ,

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The population in American schools up to this time has been forever increasing, just as regularly as ideas on how an education should be obtained are constantly changing. So it was that when the Wyomissing Schools started to over- flow with an excess student body, the School Board began to think about revising the educational sys- tem of the borough. Either the present buildings had to be en- larged or an entirely new structure erected. A i This idea in its first conceived form, after putting up a new building to house the ele- mentary pupils at the western athletic field, was to maintain two separate grade schools, one at each end of the borough. Since, however, the national birth rate showed a sharp de- crease, such action seemed unnecessary. The second plan of giving up the grade building altogether and housing the entire en- rollment in the high school was also abandoned when it was discovered that the costs for the necessary additions would have been enough to construct a whole new school. Even at such an expense the renovated high school would have been out ot date and not well adapted, for ideas on the modern school layout have undergone radical revision in the past twenty years. April first, Nineteen hundred thirty-nine Page Eight