Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, June 21, 1903, Page 24

Omaha High School Classes HE graduating exercises of the present year's class of the Omaha High school the mem- bers of the largest class in the history of public Instruction in Omaha have pasced from positions of more or less certain eminence In their small world to places hopel y undefined in the real outer life of the nation. There remain yet of the closing scenes of the school year, all intimately with graduatfon, the competitive.drill of the cadet battallon, the companies are done,; connected of which contend for honors in Vinton Street park Monday evening; Tuesday night the alumni banquet at the Millard hotel and Wednesday evening the class socinl The yearly considery competitive drill, for which le extra work is done, is a cone test wherein the companies pass before an inspecting body composed of army officers, who name the drilled unit and Ine dividuals. The winning company has the honor during the next year of carrying the battalion flag. As the commissioned offi- cers of the cadets are all members of the graduating class the contest s of particular interest to thelr mates, cspecially the young hest women of the clagss. The alumni banquet the following evening at the Millard will draw together members of every class graduated from the schools of the ty, but the newcomers will alone enjoy the ealcium and will be the happy ones at the reception which comes before the tables are attacked, Howard Kennedy, Jr., toastmaster be will and Rev. N. M. Mann the priest. Mr Man- chester and Miss Lehman ure to sing and a business session follows the gpread The class goclal takes place on the lawn of B. A. Parmalee at 1924 Corby street, The exercises have not been as elaborate as in the two or three preceding vears. The cadets have bheen absent on their annual encampment and school has been carried on rather perfunctorily during this tima, the teachers heing busy with the heavy duties of the closing year. The graduating exercises Friday evening at the Creighton theater marked the end of the serfons part, and the class banquet at the Millard the following night began the merry-making As 1t had all along been the intention to do away with class day exerclses such as were obscrved in 1901 and 19 there have been two enjoyable ree. tions given In the bullding. The first was a senior class and teachere' reception during Dccember and the second a parents' reception in March. The bullding was prettily decorated with Turkish rugs and divan pillows and other household furnishings placed about to give the school the alr of a place of permanent abode, The great event of former commence- ments has been the class day plays, which have been glven In the Crelghton theater. This was not attempted this year because of the expense principally, but also because of the long preparati n necesgary and the considerable work Involved Perhaps the best thing done In this way wag by the class of 1901, which buflded its dramatics on the cauldron scene in “Macbeth," With speclal and appropriate scenery and the conventional witches of the moor was worked out a propkecy for all the closs, with tableaux and most pleasing accesories Last year the school manufactured its own play without the ald or consent of any known dramatist, and the affair was very pleasing. But the play Involved a large amount of attentlon and continual work, The really prohibitive feature was the ex- pensge which had been growing yvearly and made too great a burden on the Individual purses of the scholars. The theater was laet year ralgsed in rent by 100 per cent. so that the class of this year decided rather than by less expenditure to give a play in- ferior to some which had gone before, to give up altogether the attempt The class of 1802 held its graduating ex- ercises in Boyd's theater on the afternoon of June 23, the program consisting of mu- #ic by the orchestra and plano duets, reci- tations and epech-making orations by the Some Facts from Records | Pertaining to Graduates August Swenson. Madeline Hillis, HONOR MEMBERS OF THE OMAHA members of the class. elght members, fifty-seven of these being girls. The following year the populace as- sembled in the theater to see forty-two girls and twenty finish their local school work. The exercises were of the usual character and Clinton N. Powell, president of the Board of Education, pre- sented the diplomas. The class motto was, “Semper Agile.” The class of 180 filled Boyd's on the evening of June 21, the school year being continued unusually late into the suminer. This class numbered the same in girls, but had two more young men The class had sixty- boys on its role. The 1895 class went out with a flourtsh, having the motto, “Ne Tentes aut Perfice which possibly few of |ts members can now translate; the class col- ors green and white, and the perhaps in- harmonious class yell, “Rip! Rip! Rip! Rip! Rah! Rive! O. H. 8. '®!" The class num- beved fifty-two girls and thirty-one boys, The graduation exerecises were held on M v 29 and Anna Anderson, Alvin A. steel, Eva Hamilton, Othelia Karbach, Helen Mackin, Ella Phelps, Katie Swartzlander, Hal T. Beans, Nellie Gamble, May Ballou, Anna Nordwell, Edwin Chapin and Edith KKuhne had puarts in the program. Colonel Aikin presented the diplomas. It was during this vear that military drill was introduced in the &chool and some of the young men of the were the first cadet officers. The class day exercises took place at the Wom- an's club. The 18% class was the first one to graduate where the members were classed by different courses and had, all told, fifty-nine members, forty-six of class se being young women. In the graduating ex- ercises, which were of jhe vertional sort, the following names appeared on the program: Bessie Dumont, Maude Bryant, Myrtle De Graff, Wi'l Godso, Minnie Crane, Olga Andreen, Belle Goldsmith, Josephine Blart, Josephine Bell, Chester Franklin and GRADUATING CLASS OF THE PLATTSMOUTH HIGH SCHUOL, 198.—Fhoto by Sopea Roy Sunderland. Jessie Wi Alice Wright. Sidney Singer, Eila Carol, True. Josie Frazier. Byron Eaton, ugh, Claire McDermntt Ellen HIGH SCHOOL, CLASS OF 1903.—Photo by a Staff Artist. Eugene Mackin, The class day was not o! erved this year. . The 187 class showed graduates in soven courses and totaled eighty-six, with thirty- five boys an unusually large number. There were more young men in the classical and elective courses this year than there were young women, an infrequent thing except in the manual training department. ‘This class gave a play in the Boyd theater dur- ing the afterncon of ciass day. At the graduating exercises Zorah Shields, Harry Crandall, Lulu Tuttle, Ella Crawford, Isa- bella Will, Gertrude Waterman, Henry Plummer, Edith Higgins, C. W. Engle, Louls B. Reed and Marian Hart took part, The class of 1%0 numbered 134, the largest to that date, and held its conmimencement exerciscs on June 8, and gave a cliss day show at the theater. Fifty-four members of this class signified their intention of going into some institution of higher edu- cation. The following year the school work was finished on June £1 with elaborate ceremonies and a claes of 112 left the insti- tution. The 192 class numbered 148, thir teen taking the classical course, thirty- cight the Latin-English, twelve the Ger- man-English, two the French-English, sixty-two the elective, five the commercis four the manual training and twelve the English course. The exercises were held on June 13 and a class banquet was en- Joyed the following evening. The present class, which is the largest in the history of the school, numbers 160 pupils, 101 being girls and fifty-nine boys. Twenty-eight of the young men of the class have signified an intention of going to college and thirty-three young women have done the same. Three more will at- tend the state normal and five of the class are at present undecided as to whether they will continue study or begin other oc- cupations. Among the boys who graduated the courses were distributed as follows: Elective, 34; manual training, 11; Latin- English, 6; German-English, 3; commercial, 3; classical, 1. The girls were classed: Latin-English, 39; elective, 37; German- English, French, 4; English, 4; commer- cial, 13; classical, 3. The class of 1903 entered the high school proper, or- the ninth grade, 600 strong. Various reasons led to the rapid reduc- tion of classes in the ninth and tenth grades. The boys largely leave the school to begin earning money for their own sup- port. The giris also in lesser number are called upon to enter upon the household cares, relieving overworked mothers or going into the stores and offices. Then there are a certain number who are with- drawn to attend schools, private and pre- paratory, in other parts of the country. A few are unable to keep up with the class work and in this instance there have been three deaths to lessen the ranks. The classes have seemed to average for a num- ber of years about one-third boys to their total number. It has been roughly estimated that from 25 to 40 per cent of the graduates enter higher inslitutions of learning, but there is no way of knowing exactly. Of course, the largest number go to the State university at Lincoln, which naturally continues the work of the high schools in the state. About one-fifth of last year's class went to the university. Some years ago the state institution was passed by when pos- sible for eastern colleges which were bet- ter known. But the hard times succeed- ing 1894 made necessary the selection of cheaper school and after students had been at the university for a year or two the excellence of the school was recog- nized. In acddition to this the university has been rapidly improving and the at- tendance from this city hgs kept pace. The (Continued on Page Five.) .