Acalanes used to give students a booklet called the Handbook for Dons. This booklet had everything from a list of available activities/clubs to Acalanes songs/yells.
Up until the past few days, we thought we only had the nice compact versions from the late-1940s through the mid-1960s. While digging through our archives we discovered an older, much larger version of one these handbooks for the 1942-1943 school year.
This one also had an activities/clubs section like the other handbooks except it explained each activity/club in detail. One of these activities/clubs was “Radio”.
It’s a little unclear whether the list of activities/clubs in these books guaranteed that the activity/club would be available that year. It isn’t listed as an activity in the 1943 Aklan. However, an activity/club being absent from the Aklan doesn’t necessarily mean that the activity/club didn’t exist. At the very least, Acalanes thought there could be enough interest to merit a club.
This also hints at their having been a Radio Club during the 1941-1942 school year because several descriptions of the activities/clubs imply that they were being carried over from the previous year.
We have included below the list and descriptions of all the activities/clubs listed in the 1942-1943 Acalanes Student Handbook:
Activity Periods:
The activity period provides an opportunity for the high school student to include in his full program of academic subjects a class, club or activity for which he otherwise would not have time. The choice or variety of activities offered depends upon the demand by the students. There are some organizations or classes in the activity period which are permanent. The remainder depend upon the interest and the need for their being.
Language Club:
The Language Club was formed in the interest of these language students who desired to learn more of the customs, fashions, and cultural history of the country whose language they were learning in their academic classes.
Homemaking Club:
Garment construction in weaving, knitting, home mending, dining socks and patches, embroidery work and crocheting are learned in this activity. Constructive work for pleasure as well as for worth-while charities is undertaken.
Modern Dance:
Emphasis in this activity is on two phases of development; for the individual, ability to move with rhythm, control, and balance; for the group, understanding of the individuals relation to a strong dynamic whole. This new group has made rapid strides in the difficult field of modern dance.
Publications:
The Aklan
In the production of the Acalanes yearbook, staff members of the AKLAN endeavor to present to their fellow students and friends a book depicting high school life, tradition, and student government in pictures and prose.
The staff, including editorial, managerial and photographic departments, learn the fundamental’s of layouts, photography, printing, photo engraving, and other technical processes essential in an annual’s production.
The Blueprint
Training a large staff of freshmen and sophomores in the rudiments of newspaper writing is supplementary to the journalism class’s main function, the production of the school bi-weekly, THE BLUEPRINT. The aim of the paper is to report impartially, to editorialize without sermonizing, and to be accepted by the student body as essential to their entertainment.
The Editor answers for BLUEPRINT policy and is in charge of general supervision. The City-Editor is in charge of front page news and make-up. The City Editor also cooperates with and serves as a clearing house for local newspapers. The Business Manager heads the Managerial Staff, supervising technical production, advertising, and distribution.
Acalanes Student Handbook
Providing background and covering essential material, the handbook’s main purpose is to acquaint the student and his parents with information regarding his successful completion of the high school course, his part and education in becoming a good citizen, his opportunities for participation in social affairs and his preparation for entrance into college or a job following graduation.
Valuable instruction and experience is given handbook staff members in the compilation and production of a more or less detailed and technical publication.
Photography:
Students learn the elements of the art and a practice knowledge of laboratory technique. Club members take many of the snaps, candids, and group shots that appear in the AKLAN, school yearbook.
Aviation Club:
This activity group is interested in at least four phases of aviation: the general principles of flying, the weather, flying instruments, and airplanes and their engines. A great deal of time is spent in discussion of the merits of various ships, commercial and military. The activity supplements instruction in many classes designed to acquaint students with developments in the field of air transportation.
Drama Club:
The drama club endeavors to acquaint students with the fundamentals of stage craft, pantomimes and skits. More advanced members participate in the Christmas Play and in the Senior Play.
All students interested may sign for drama the first and fourth quarters. Membership the second and third quarters is determined by try-outs for the play to be produced. These try-outs include the actual actors and the production staff.
First Aid:
In First Aid students learn what to do in case of an accident or serious illness in the absence of professional aid or before that aid comes. Lessons taught in First Aid Class helps one to determine the extent and nature of the injury, stop bleeding, give artificial respiration, relieve shock, apply bandages and place traction splints. Red Cross First Aid certificates are awarded on successful completion of the course.
Special Shop:
Special Shop is for those students who wish to undertake special projects or to learn fundamentals of machinery installation. Oxyacetylene welding and arc-welding are taught.
Machine shop practice and new methods of mill work in cabinet structure are offered the intermediate Special Shop group. Shop activity is devoted to the building of school equipment that can not otherwise be had because of labor costs.
Personal Typing:
Beginners only have been permitted to enter Personal Typing. This activity is offered especially for students who are unable to make room for typing in their regular class time but who wish to gain a knowledge of proper technique and the keyboard so they may improve their skills in their own time.
Students who plan to take typing for credit later on are advised not to take this activity.
Teams:
Boys who go out for teams—baseball, basketball, football, track, tennis or swimming in their respective seasons are enrolled in P.E. during the last or activity period. Practice and perfection of skills are attempted in this period. Often games and meets are held during this period and continued after school.
Study:
Students who have a crowded or heavy course often elect to have study during their activity period. Study for those who feel that they need or should like it is maintained under the supervision of a competent faculty member.
Penmanship:
Students recognizing their need for improved penmanship take advantage of the course offered to meet their needs. Often advisors suggest that a certain student be enrolled in the penmanship class for a period of a week or so to improve his legibility or technique. Attendance at this class is not compulsory.
Special Art:
Special Art is a free period for students interested in any and all aspects of art. Painting, sketching, modeling, carving and any other phase of the study may be undertaken by the student enrolled in this special activity.
Interior Decorating:
The activity of Interior Decorating aids the student in the application of art in the home. Good taste in color and line is an important lesson in decorating. How to choose furniture and make good buys, taking into consideration practicability as well as comfort and artistic harmony, are discussed by the students and faculty instructor in informal gatherings.
Boys Cooking Club:
Only a limited number of bots (sic) are admitted to the Boy’s cooking (sic) Club which meets eighth period. The boys cook for their own pleasure with the school’s modern equipment. From time to time the club entertains members of the faculty or student groups with their special luncheons.
Radio:
Students in the Radio Club try to understand and learn something of the theory of radio. The repairing and building of radio instruments is undertaken by the more advanced activity students.
Slide Rule:
A group of hard working students who wanted to learn the many many uses of the slide rule formed this activity. In their studies they mastered the theory of logarithms before learning the use of the rule.
That’s all the information on this part that we have at the moment. As with all these posts, please feel free to share information you might have.
For more on the Acalanes Radio Station KCEQ rabbit hole and other Lafayette History Rabbit Holes.
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