Social Activities

This was my last quarter of classes and again they were directed at the finer points of teaching. One exception was my Industrial Arts class on boat building from Mr. Killin. The students actually constructed a fair size fishing boat. That was the first time I had worked with Alaskan Cedar that many of the boat parts were constructed of. I received an A in the class and enjoyed the project. One class titled “Social Disorganization” was a mystery to me as to how it would fit into teaching, but I received a B for my efforts so didn’t grumble. Philosophy of Education was a dry class no mater how much the professor tried to jazz it up. That was one of my two C grades in the quarter. The other was in Biology.

There was a surprise left for winter quarter. The “SNO-BALL” was a winter event preceding mid-terms and it provided a break before plunging into studies again. The dance was sponsored by the Sitzmark Ski Club. I was crowned as King for the event and Pat Duffy as Queen. I didn’t know Pat. She was a freshman and in a wheel chair. When we were presented to the crowd by Abe Poffenroth there was an awkward moment when I wasn’t sure if we should welcome everyone and invite them to dance. There wasn’t any way we could do that, so I stood there with a silly grin on my face and Pat sat in her wheel chair. She had an escort who eventually came to keep her company so I faded into the crowd as inconspicuously as possible.

 Dewey and I were both invited to join Alpha-Zeta Chapter of Epsilon Pi Tau, an international honor society in industrial arts. It promotes the ideals of high skills, social efficiency, and scholarly endeavor within the organization. The chapter sponsored a hunting clinic in the fall and a fishing clinic during spring quarter. I remembered Tom telling me I would be invited into the chapter when I had accomplished enough Industrial Arts course work to qualify.

*Taken from "Which Road Should I Follow?, Volume 1, Growing up in the country", an autobiography by Edwin K. Hill.