Yeatman High School - Yeatman Life Yearbook (St Louis, MO)

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THE slqxrlxcs SQUAD THE 'OFFICERS OF THE-G. A. A

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. r 'r' ll ii A HISTORY OF THE G. A. A. CH.-xRLoTT12 HEINA-january, 1926 ' s I-I, Memories of the former Girls of 'rffiltmt Y H 11 1 if - keep, N eatman lg , tlose in 0 weie members of tl1e G. A. A., I call upon you to help me in this stu- pendous task of writing of the glories of G. A. A.! I sit and listen and softly but clearly as if from the far shores of Time, I hear the whisper of girlish voices: On November 11, 1904, a group of girls, numbering forty-four, met for the purpose of forming an athletic club, sponsored by Miss Becker for the girls of Yeatman High. XVe were the nucleus of your present Girls' Athletic Association. At our next meeting, we chose for our name: The Yeatman High School Girls' Athletic Association. Our dues were 51.00 a year, payable quarterly and our initiation fees 50.25. NVe did not have a point system then, but merely gave medals or prizes to our winning teams. 4VVe began basketball as soon as possible. The girls practiced twice a week and con- sidering the short time they had, although not being winners, they came off' so well in their competitive games that they received the praise and good will of the school. NVE also organized Skating and W'alking Clubs. lVe grew steadily in membership as well as in athletics. On February 15, 1905, we had our first party. VVe invited the faculty and we all had a good time. In the sp1'ing, we organized a Tennis Club, practicing at -O'Fallon Park. It is fitting to add, that the girls who be- longed to the Y. H. S. G. A. A. were G or above in their studies. WVe were not allowed to join unless we presented a slip of paper, signed by our teachers which at- tested this fact. During the next year, in order to raise money for the association, we made banners and ribbons, to be sold at fifty cents and ten cents, respectively. The girls also designed a pin. VVe decided upon one that had a black background with the letters HY. A. A. in gold. These were not given to the girls of the association, but had to be bought by the members themselves. VVe challenged the basketball teams of other schools,.varying between success and failure. VVe decided to buy pins for the Basketball girls with the proceeds of the games. In the spring we had a tennis tournament between our own girls. Our activities in skating and hiking also con- tinued. Our picture was in the May-June issue of the Yeatman Life. The year of 1906 was important for only one thing. You must remember, that we had been growing steadily. With more mem- bers, more money was coming in. we final- ly had almost more than was good for us, so we decided to reduce the dues to twenty- tive cents a term. VV e understand that you are still asking as much. The next year, we had a write-up in Life, lN7e also arranged to have sta- tionery with our pin on it. W'e voted to have a record chart similar to the B. A. A.'s put in the trophy case. Ah, the glories of Yeatmanl Miss Valle Post won an inter- scholastic tennis tournament, bringing home to Y eatman new honors and a silver cup. Outside of our usual activities, we could not call 1908 an important year. Perhaps it might be called the beginning of the end for in 1909-Wfell, wait just a few mo- ments. Here the voices stopped a short while, started, stopped anclthen faltered on again: It's rather hard to tell you of 1909. For then the Y. H. S. G. A. A. came to an end. After January 5, we had no more meet- ings. Perhaps our end resulted in lack of enthusiasm, we don't know. For a time, I hear no sound, except the ticking of the clock. I am about to call One Hundred Thirty- three

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-Q..-......-on-.......4.......---.-.., f ----- sz ,v ----... f .-A.. ef. :, V W. . . .. f if iiifi .. -' i 'fyz ' it I e l ti ..-. again upon the Memories when I hear voices. They are little closer and somewhat clearer as if quite a few years have been spanned. They are glad, they are eager, listen! Miss 1916 speaks: I Hurrah! The Girls' Athletic iIAssocia- tion of Yeatman High School lives again. NVe had our first meeting on March 7. Our various lines of work were Tennis, Basket- ball, Hiking, Gilbert, Apparatus and First Aid. VVe did not yet have the point system. but gave Y's for general excellence in each club. We had about 126 members during this year. It was not till the next term, however, that we really got into full swing. Miss McQuiston assumed sponsor- ship for our Association. The new G. A. A. had its first party, a masquerade, ,April of 1917. fNe also de- cided to wear the school colorsto the held meet. The G. A. A. was to go in a body. XV e again had our much loved Tennis Tour- naments. A move was made for new mem- bersg each girl pledged herself to bring at least one new member. During all this time. the Wiorld Mfar had been going on. You already know we had a First Aid Squad. Now the girls began to make Christ- mas Cheer Bags for the boys over theref, Besides this work, we started a Yeatman Unit of Red Cross VVork. At, this time, we also instituted a Swimming Squad. Appara- tus work was suspended for a time. NVe had our usual annual party. In 1918, we started our track team under the leadership of Miss Krumeich. Miss McQuiston took charge of Basketball. while Miss Grace had Swimming and Tennis. Miss Brown had charge 'of First Aid. ,On account of the flu ban, we didn't accomplish as much as we had hoped during the term September 1918-January 1919. During the years 1919 and 1920. our work progressed on the same level. Wie had a membership drive in 1920 with the result of having our memlzership list topping the 215 mark. Wie selected felt tams to wear at the iield meet. XV e started a soccer team. A year of importance was 1921. In the Hrst place, we had another membership cam- paign. This met with success. A Hockey Team was organized. The Seniors won the championship game over the other three years in Basketball. Last, but most im- portant of all, we adopted the i'point sys- tem in giving letters to the girls. The total number of points required for a'Y was 800. Gym gave 50 a term, tennis, 20 a season, swimming. 20 a term, hiking, 90 a term, hockey, 80 a season, basketball, 20 a season and tield work 10. .Winner in field events received-lst 50, 2nd 40, 3rd 30 points. Tennis singles gave 50 and doubles 25. Swimming the same as track. Basketball and Hockey winners 25 each. The Misses Kelly, Grace, Lucy and the officers of the G. A. A. signed their approval. Mr. Butler also approved of this plan. Now the voices stopped. They knew I needed them no longer. I could draw from the stores of my own memories. In 1923, the G. A. A. started taking care of its members through the card system. This work was so complicated that Miss McQuiston took charge of the point system, assuming only the work of the director. A Life correspondent was-to be chosen by Miss Jeffrey and Miss McQuiston each term to explain the work and pleasures of the G. A. A. to the students through Life Numerals were to be given to members who had received.-l00 points and pins to those who had achieved 1,200 points. The muner- als consisted of the year in which the girl won her points. These were to be of gold felt on a background of blue. The pins were replicas of the Y's. In 1924. most of us remember seeing the G. A. A.'s go to the held meet forming a Y with their blue and gold balloons and tams. Wie entertained -the Mothers' Club-. This was to acquaint the mothers of the girls with the work which is being done in Yeat- man. By 1925, dropping some clubs, taking on others, we had acquired eight branches of work. They are the following: hiking, danc- ing, apparatus, track, swimming, tennis, One Hundred Thirty-five