Grove High School 1922 Senior History

Class History, '22

THE fall of 1918 saw the beginning of the Class of '22. It was then that
we first made our impressions on Grove Hill. Grove received the largest
Freshman Class in its history. 'Tis interesting to note that out of some
hundred and ten freshmen only thirty-five have reached the senior goal,
some having fallen into the hands of Cupid and some having fallen by the
wayside. But others have been added to the thirty-five until our number is, as seniors,
fifty-two, the adjectives that are given to all proper freshmen were given to us, namely,
fresh" and "green." It was that fall, as every one remembers, that a very great docu-
ment was drawn up—the armistice. The holiday will never be forgotten. News came
early on November 1 1 that this great paper had been accepted and signed. Professor
Clements and the board gladly gave us a holiday. This day was a day of days, and
I feel safe in saying that our hearts were gladder than ever before. As freshmen we
were full of pep, and taking it as a whole our "breaking in" year was very successful,
having for our sisters the juniors, who proved to be guardian angels.

During the summer, before our sophomore year, we learned that Prof. D. M.
Clements, our much-loved principal, had accepted a position in the state vocational depart-
ment and would not be with us any more. But for every loss there is always a gain. and
this time it came in the presence of Prof. J. H. Bayer, who has stayed with us through
our senior year and who has been an efficient pilot at the wheel. This year the height of
our ambition was to let fly our colors from the flagpole which, as it later made us realize,
was quite taxing on our treasury. But what of that? For Ruby Cloys won the interclass
contest medal with a scene from "Polly of the Circus."

Some rain, every one knows, 'must fall in every life, even in the life of our class. On
March, 1920. our hearts were saddened by the death of Laura Clement, who was one
of our sweetest classmates.

Our president this year was Mrs. Arthur Sensing (nee Eaker).

At the close of the year we discovered that all of our "greenness" and "freshness"
had worn off and left us "overly wise." We completed our year by honoring the seniors
with a party.

As juniors we had hopes of seme day being seniors, for now we were "big sisters" to
a host of freshmen. The class was organized, and Clem Krider was named president.
Little did we know that so many honors were to be bestowed upon us as juniors. At
the raising of "dem bones," around February, '22, we saw really that something was
going to happen. And something did happen. Bertie Easley carried off the medal for
the juniors. Later in the year three other honors were won. Thelma Sprigg received
first prize in an essay contest fostered by the Parisian, while Virginia Weldon won two
gold medals—the Warren medal for underclass scholarship and the Storer medal for
extemporaneous speaking in the intersociety contest. She was also president of Atkins-
Polymnia Literary Society. Our achievements this year we consider very creditable.

And now we come to our last year. As was it in our junior year, we were to receive
honors we knew not of. From our class were chosen the following officers of importance:
R. P. dark, president Senior Class and president Hamilton-Browning Literary Society;
Nelle Frousdale and Thomas Duncan, presidents, respectively, of E. W. Grove Literary
Society; Joe Johnson, president of the Hi-Y Club and business editor of HI-LIFE;
Virginia Weldon, editor-in-chief of HI-LIFE and the Comet. We also received honorable
mention from the faculty for our stunts before the interclass contest, which included the
wedding of the Senior Class to Victory and the best collection of cartoons. But best of
all, Thelma Sprigg won the medal, this making the third medal from the interclass contest
our class has won—a distinction not held by any previous class. In the "Better English
Contest" Grace French took first prize. These are a few of the many honors taken away
by the Class of '22, the largest graduating class in old Grove's history.

And as seniors we begin to realize how much yet is to be learned. We go forth to
make use of that we have learned in these four walls. And now our history is completed,
save the few remaining days of commencement, and my only wish is that in life we have
the same hope, the same spirit and the same ideals that we have cherished as a class.

CATHERINE ROUTON, Historian, '22.