Ysleta High School - Otyokwa Yearbook (El Paso, TX)

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During Ysleta High ' s 50tli Year the community was concerned with space for construction, conservation and history, which put the focus on I OTJR SIDE OF TOWN pf-yj iiW j . 11 eOUNniY OiUl MimTI Swimming, golf, and tennis were offered to interested El Pasoans, as the newly built Vista Hills Country Club began operating. The grazing of cattle and farm animals was a familiar scene common to the Lower Valley. f0f 0n

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' ' Once an Indian, always an Indian Clyde Wafer The original Ysleta High School The name of the Ysleta school system stems from the original settlement of Ysleta, which became the second oldest town in the United States and the oldest in Texas when the Tigua Indians established the first mission in the Southwest in 1 687. Records indicate that the first organized public school in Ysleta was established around 1 880 and was operated in various homes until 1 8 84, when the school board received permission from the County Commissioner ' s Court to use the courthouse at Ysleta for school purposes. (The El Paso county government was located in Ysleta from 1 87 1 to 1 883. In that year, the county government was moved to El Paso.) Renting of the courthouse continued until 1 887 when the building was purchased for $ 1 ,000 from the Commissioner ' s Court. The Ysleta School District then owned its first public school building. The building continued to be used as a school tor Ysleta until a bond issue for $17,000 was voted in 1915 for the construction of a new school building. Mrs. Louise Little Stones from the old courthouse were used for the foundation of the three-story structure which is a part of the present Ysleta Elementary School. In 1 936 Miss Louise Bolton (now Mrs. Louise Little, head of the music program for the Ysleta Independent School District) started the now famous all girl Drum Corps. According to Mrs. Little, this is how It happened: In the fall of ' 36, during the football season, we had a very small band and we didn ' t have enough people to perform halftime shows for the games because a lot of the members in the band were on the football team. Because of the shortage of band members, and also because of the fact that the band needed some sort of cadence, a general announcement was made at an assembly announcing the creation of the all-girl Drum Corps. Six girls — all of whom had some kind of acquaintance with music through piano lessons, singing lessons, etc. — tried out and made the first all girl Drum Corps (see pg. 45). Two weeks prior to the first football game of the season, the girls practiced three hours daily, five days out of the we ek. The performance of the girls at the first game brought the crowd to their feet and I think it has ever since, commented Mrs. Little. The popularity of the girls was obvious because at the first game there were only fifty or so fans m the stands. At the second game there were over 250 people present. Through the years, Drum Corps has risen in popularity and is constantly getting offers to play in different parts of the nation — they even received one from the President of the United States in 1 976. Drum Corps has performed at the Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Kentucky Derby, Disneyland, Disneyworld, Wisconsin, and Canada, to name a few. In 1 936, Mrs. Little also started the choir and the orchestra. In summarizing her experience with Drum Corps, Mrs. Little said, The years that I taught the Drum Corps and the band were the most enjoyable years of my teaching career. Ysleta ' s Indian Warrior In 1 952, the YHS student council, under the leadership of Forrest Cooper, Jr. — son of then principal Forrest Cooper — decided to create a symbol to represent our school. Student Council member Ramon Arellano — now a social studies instructor at our school, drew the original plans for symbol. The name Kawliga originated from the lyrics of a song about a wooden Indian. After student council members approved the plans, Ramon Arellano was appointed to be responsible for corresponding with Bernal Bros. woodcarvers in Juarez, Mexico. The carvers worked hastily in order to have the Indian carved in time for the graduation of the class of ' 53 but the original structure split in half as a result of the haste and because the carvers attempted to make Kawliga out of a single piece of mahogany. The second attempt to carve Kawliga was successful because it was carved out of two pieces of wood — instead of one. Today Kawliga stands boldly in the main hall and throughout the years, he has Kawliga become a ' powerful figure at our school. As tradition has it, one receives ' strength ' when the right hand is placed on his right shoulder. This tradition has become a ritual for football players before important games. In 1 970 Student Council president David Higdon introduced an idea to improve school spirit in the student body. The idea worked and it is now a very important tradition at our school and is the idea that other high schools in the districts have copied in the past. David introduced the idea of having an Indian horserider to ride around the football field with a ceremonial lance in his hand. Student Council member Carey Laurice donated the lance Preceding home football games the horserider comes out onto the field to the beat of the Drum Corps Cadence and enters the gates to the football field and in full view of all spectators, plunges the spear in the ground, thus, challenging our opponents, the way the Plains Indians did in the West. 359 Traditions

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Little known to its citizens, El Paso ' s farming industry is the oldest in the nation, and the Lower Valley area of El Paso Is an important part of the economic well-being of the area. Adjoining the Ysleta Mission was once the oldest farm in the North American continent. It ' s been in constant cultivation since 1682, until recently. Part of it is now a parking lot for the old Ysleta Mission and the Tigua Indian visitors center, with sections of it being replanted. The Tiguas of Ysleta, which is now part of El Paso, came to the Lower Valley from Isleta, New Mexico, at the time of the uprising against the Spaniards by the Pueblo Indians in New Mexico in 1680. The Tigua complex in Ysleta, near the Ysleta Mission, welcomes visitors to see bread- baking, pottery-making, silversmithmg, and weaving. Ysleta, San Elizario, and Socorro Missions are some of the most frequented historic tourist stops in the El Paso area. At San Elizario, the church faces the town plaza, and the marker near the church reveals that the famed explorer Onate reached that spot on April 20, 1 598. The Ysleta Mission contains one of the oldest altars existing in Texas. A state marker in the village of Socorro, just east of El Paso, marks the site of the Socorro Mission, which was established centuries ago in 1682. The name of the Ysleta school system stems from the original settlement of Ysleta, which became the second oldest town in the United States, and the oldest in Texas when the Tiguas established the first mission in the Southwest in 1681. Today, the Ysleta Independent School District is ninth in size in the State of Texas. Ysleta Mission, one of the oldest in Texas, thrives as a strong religious sanction to the Lower Valley. ■ ■W! f ABOVE The Tigua Indian Community dis- plays modern architectural design. BELOW: One of the busiest streets in Ysleta, Zaragosa Road, undergoes city street improvement construction. h n« iiiMUuimi !!% J „ ' J Lower VSlley