Omaha High School
HE graduating exercises of the
present year's class of the Omaha
High school arc done; the mem
bers of tho largest class in the
history of public: Instruction In
Omaha hav; passed from positions of more
or less certain eminence In their small
world to places hopelessly u n il t! ri l In the
real outer life of thu nation. There remain
tt of the closing scenes of the school year,
hi) Intimately connected with graduation,
the competitive -drill of the cadet battalion,
the companies of whlrh contend for honors
In Vinton Street park Monday evening;
Tuesday nlpht tho alumni banquet at the
Millard hotel arid Wednesday evening the
cluss hcm la I.
The yearly competitive drill, for which
considerable extra work Is done, is a con
test wherein the companies pass before an
Inspecting body composed of army officers,
who name the best drilled unit and In
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 nil members of the
graduating class the contest I of particular
Interest to their mates, especially the young
women of the claps. The alumni banquet
the following evening at the Millard will
draw together members of every class
graduated from the schools of the city, but
the newcomers will alone enjoy the calc ium
and will be the happy ones at the reception
which conies before the tables are attacked.
Howard Kennedy. Jr., will be toastmastcr
and Itev. JSf. M. Mann the priest. Mr. Man
chester and Miss Lehman i.re to sing and a
business session follows the spread. The
class social takes place on tho lawn of E.
A. Parinalee at 1924 Corby street.
The exercises have not been as elaborate
os in the two or three preceding years. The
cadets have been absent on their annual
encampment and school has been carried
on rather perfunctorily during this time,
the teachers being busy with the heavy
duties of the closing year. The graduating
exercises Friday evening nt the Crelghton
theater marked the end of th serious part
and the class banquet at the Millard the
following night, began the merry-making
As It hud nil along been the Intention to
do away with class day exercises k.kIi as
were observed In 11 and 1502 there have
necn two enjoyable receptions given In th
e
r.unuing. rne nrst was a senior class
teachers' reception during December
nnd
and
i.ic- nrmin a parents' reception In
March.
ne miuciinjr was prettily decorated with
Turkish rugs and divan pillows and other
household furnishings placed about to give
the school the air of a place of permanent
abode.
The great event of former commence
ments has been the class day plays, which
have ben given In the CYelghtori theater.
Thla was not attempted this year because
of the expense principally, but also because
of the lonif preparation nerersary and the
considerable work Involved. Perhaps the
best thing done In this way was by the
class of 1901. which builded Its dramatics
on the cauldron scene In 'Macbeth." With
apeclal and appropriate scenery nnd the
conventional witches of the moor was
worked out a prophecy for all the di ss,
with tableaux and most pleasing accesoiles.
1nt year the school manufactured Its own
play without the aid or consent of any
known dramatist, and the affair was very
pleasing. But the play Involved a large
amount of attention and continual work.
The really prohibitive feature was the ex
pense which had been growing yearly and
made too great a burden on the Individual
purses of the scholars. The theater was
lart year raised 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
glvo up altogether the attempt.
The class of 1K92 held Its graduating ex
ercises In Poyd's theater on the afternoon
of June 23, the program consisting of mu
alc by the orchestra and piano duets, reci
tations and epoch-making orations by the
s?
1TA- ..'
-r n,-,v-r n t 5. , , tu,,,,.,, , ,,. . . ,t.UaUAiat:tPJcvM3
August Swenson. Roy Sunderland. ' Byron Eaton.
i ' Jessie Wuugll. ' kii.,
" """'
HONOR MEMBERS OP THE OMAHA
members of the class. The class had sixty
eight memliers, fifty-seven of these being
girls. The following year the populace as
sembled in the theater to - see forty-two
girls and twenty boys 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 1WH filled
Boyd's on the evening of June 21, tho
school year lieing continued unusuully Into
Into the summer. This class numbered the
same In girls, but had two more young men
on Its role. The 18M class went out with
a flourish, having the motto, "Ne Tentes
aut Perfice," which possibly few of Its
members can now translate; the class col
ors green and white, and the perhaps In
harmonious class yell. "Rip! Hip! Kip! Rip!
Hah! Rive! O. H. R. '!" The class num
bered fifty-two girls and thirty -one boys.
The graduation exercises were held on May
a and Anna Anderson, Alvin A. ocuel, Eva
Hamilton, Othelln Karbach, Helen Mackln,
Ella Phelps, Katie flwartzlander. Hal T.
Beans. Nellie tSamble, May Ballou. Annn
Nordwell, Edwin Chapln and Edith Kuhne
had parts in the program. Colonel Aikln
presented the diplomas. It was during this
year that military drill was introduced In
the school and some of the young men of
the class were the first cadet offlcers. The
clam day exercises took place at the Wom
an's club. The lM) class win the llrst one
to graduate where the members were
classed by different courses and had. nil
told, hfty-nino members, forty-six of these
being young women. In tho grvluatiTrr ex
ercises, which were of Jhc conventional
sort, the following names appeared on the
program: Bessie IHimnnt, Maude Bryant.
Myrtle De Graff. Wl'l Godso, Minnie Crane,
Olga Andreen, Belle Goldsmith, Josephine
Blart. Josephine Bell, Chester Franklin and
4.
- 1 ..." T
7- twY if is-
GRADUATING CLASS OK THE PLATToMOUTH HIGH SCHOOL, 19W.-Photo by Sopea
Classes
tiaire jMcuermott. Ellen True
HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OK 1903,-Photo by a Staff Artist.
Eugene Mackln. The class day was not
observed this year.
Tho 1K)7 class showed graduates In s;ven
courses and totaled eighty-six. with thirty
five boys un unusuully large number. There
were more young men In the classical und
elective courses this year than there were
young women, an Infrequent thing except
in the manual training department. This
class gave a play lu the Boyd theater dur
ing the afternoon of class day. At the
graduating exercises Zorah Shields. Harry
Crandall. Lulu Tuttle, Ella Crawford. Isa
bella Will, Gertrude Waterman, Henry
Plum Tier. Edith Hlgglns. C. W. Engle,
Louis B. Reed and Marian Hart took part.
The class of 19C0 numbered 134, the largest
to that date, and held Its commencement
exercises on June 8, nnd gave a cl iss d ly
show nt the theater. Fifty-four members
of this class signified their Intention of
going Into some institution of higher edu
cation. Tho following year the school work
whs finished on June il with elaborate
ce emonics and a cl;:es of 112 left the Insti
tution. The 1W02 class numbered 14S, thir
teen taking the classical course, thirty
eight the Latin-English, twelve the German-English,
two the French-English,
sixty-two the elective, five tho commercial,
four the manual training and twelve the
English course. The exercises were held
on June 13 and a class banquet was en
Joyed tho following evening.
The present class, which Is the largest
In the history of the school, numbers lfiO
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 boya who graduated
the coursea were distributed as follow! :
4
i
Some Facts from Records
Pertaining to Graduates
r"nrol
Sidney Singer.
Josle Frazier.
Elective, 34; manual training, 11; Latln
Engllsh, 6; German-English, 3; commercial,
3; classical, 1. The girls were classed:
Latin-English. 30; elective, 37; German
English, 12; French, 4; English, 4; commer
cial, 13; classical, 3.
The class of 1933 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 girls also In lesser number are
called upon to enter upon the household
care, 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. Tha
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 institutions 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 ISM made necessary tha selection of
cheaper school and after students had
been at the university for a year or two
tho excellence of the school was recog
nized. In at'dltlon to this the university
has been rapidly Improving and the at
tendance from this city has kept pace. The
(Continued oa Fag Five.)