New Britain herald., 1916-06-10
History of Class of 1916. (Sidney Alfred Montague)

History of Class of 1916.
 (Sidney Alfred Montague)
 The class of 1916 at the beginning of it's freshman year, numbered about three hundred and twenty. We were | like all other freshman classes in that we were terribly bashful and ignorant. As usual on the first few days there were some who were looking for Room 10 or Room 50, and many found the method of mum bering the rooms some what difficult to learn. But nobody was lost more than temporarily, and, as soon as we had become acquainted 1 with the building and it's Rules and l Regulations" we started the process l of becoming acquainted with our fel- 1 low members.
 Towards the end of November MT. l Akers thought this had proceeded far enough for us to elect officers, which we did, at a class meeting held in the ! auditorium. There was little dispute and less electioneering. Edward Wie- gand was chosen our first president; Beth Eddy, vice president; Eleanor Martin, secretary; and Earle Gibney, treasurer. The only business done by
 
 was to choose a classpin, which was deliberated upon sagely for a long time. We finally decided to Trade in New Britain" and so New Britain product was chosen. Soon after the election came the reception given by the sophomores for us, in theory, but for the upper classes in practice, for all we dared do was look on and par take of our hosts refreshments, which was easily done, as it cost nothing.
 Throughout the year the athletic teams set us a good precedent by once more defeating Hartford in every sport.
 Our first year passed almost too quickly and pleasantly and soon we found it to be June ,and quicker still, September. We were now lordly soph- omores. We missed the class of 1913, but they were more than made up for in number if not in any other way by the new freshman class. There was little of the old regime left. One session had come at last, but only through necessity, as there were too many pupils to be accommodated all together. The freshmen attended in the afternoon and the three upper classes in the morning. In Mr. Aker's place was MT. Slade, and with him had come many new teachers.
 It looked as if we had grown quite tall during the summer, but in many cases it was an optical illusion due to . the lengthening of dresses or the ac- the lengthtning of dresses or the ac- quisition of long trousers. At any ! rate, we had become old enough to have our class-meeting without being | hn oh ', l sophomore year were Kenneth Rel yea, president; Gladys Thomas, vice president; Irene Swift secretary ;and i Robert BuOl, treasurer; a more pop ular quartet could not have been chosen. Under their management our reception to the class of 1917 was car red out, and a fine program of dances was enjoyed.
 The football season was a success | it is not necessary to state that Hart | ford was beaten. 1916 was represent ed by Cabelus, Dudack, Gibney and Koplowitz. In baseball, from our ranks were Captain Cabelus, DudaclS and Kiniry.
 Dramatics was especially pleasing | this year an elaborate production of .Bulbul", comic operatta, being given Later in the year a vaudeville show was produced, revealing some promising talent. One part of it was l 0 hort play in French. It was very l amusing especially as very few knew | enough French to understand the con- versation, while it is doubtful if a i noWledge of French would help in i understanding it.
 1 A long felt want of the school was satisfied by the formation of the i Aloha club, social organization for girls. l understand that the girls have very enjoyable times at their meetings, in which the masculine ele- ment of the school takes no part, and i is not wanted
 Only about two hundred answered their names to the roll call at the beginning of our junior year. The school had changed but little in 1 curriculum and officials A new 1 method of giving credits had been es- 1 tablished and it is to be admitted that 1 twenty one looks much larger than four and one-quarter in the credits gained column, although the graduat- l ing minimum of seventy-two looked | almost unattainable.
 Our junior election was quite tame i and the manner of counting votes was 1 more disputed than the result, which showed that William Bracket was to