* Q
Youth corps program curtailed;
school quota cut down to twelve
Students interested in obtain
ing part-time jobs through the
Neighborhood Youth corpsshould
contact Henry Pond who will
help in getting in • touch with
Joel Sappenfield, NYC coordi
nator. The regular school pro
gram is scheduled to begin this
week.
“The program has been
drastically curtailed,” states
Mr. Pond. Only 12 positions
are open to Grant studénts
this year as compared with
50 last year.
According to the NYC summer
newsletter, “Because the Depart
ment of Labor desires to spread
NYC money throughout the statfe,
Portland will be allocated funds
for 200 enrollees this year in
stead of 650, as we had last year.”
Congress is considering a bill
that would double the appropri
ation of NYC to $496,000,000.
Wing construction
nears completion
Science will be moving into a
building of its own this year.
“We’re disappointed the con
struction is not completed, but
we are glad that the end of the
construction is in sight,” com
mented principal Dr. Roy Mjalo.
Chemistry and biology
classes anticipate completion
of the new science building
by November 1. Receiving
special attention, the cafe
teria remodeling is sched
uled for completion thé first
or second week after school
begins.
The cafeteria addition, the sci
ence building, and a covered
walkway leading from the main
building to the science byilding
have been under construction by
the Gene H. Settergren Con
struction company since Febru
ary.
Housed in the science
building will be two chem
istry and four biology
classes. The two chemistry
lecture rooms will share a
lab. A dividing door will
lend itself to team teaching
of chemistry.
Old science rooms 213 and 215
will be used for special educa
tion classes. Rooms 229 ahd 235
will be converted into general
science labs. A faculty lounge
may develop in room 217.
Rewriting the regulations to in
clude all high school students is
also under consideration.
Presently students must be 16-
21 years old. Participants work
10 hours a week at $1.25 per
hour.
The
vjrantonian
Vol. 69, No. 1
U. S. Grant High School, Portland, Oregon
Friday, Sept. 9, 1966
New teachers
to replace old Japanese family hosts Michelle Rex
as year begins
Lost: Eighteen teachers. Six of
these teachers taught English,
two social studies, two art, two
home economics, one math, one
•physical education, two science,
one music, one business educa
tion, one industrial arts and one
activities director.
Lost are Alice Allen, Ber
tha Alm, Evelyn Basgen,
Lynda Bramlette, Joseph
Carson, James DiNucci,
Charles Edmonds and Hel
en Fink.
Completing the list are Steph
anie Fisher, Judy Frykmann, D.
Allen Johnson, Gerald Merry
man, Ethel Nordgaard, Charlotte
Pennington, Paul Romans, James
Schell, Charles Stones and John
Sweo.
Found: Twenty-five new teach
ers, two of whom are intern
teachers.
Teaching English will be
Ronald Baderman, Ernest
Cowan, Gayle Nelson, and
Star Van Valkenburg an in
tern teacher from Reed col
lege.
Those teaching languages are:
Julian Amaya, Marjorie Blizzard
and Mutsuko Bunch.
Combined classes will be
taught by Elizabeth Barker,
James Conover, Agatha J.
Fiskum and Mike Rumpakis.
Konrad Daae, Rosalie Morris
and Omer L. Watson are the new
art teachers.
Carolyn Fitzwater, Vernon
Marshall, William White and
Nora Young will teach physical
education.
Additional teachers are virgil
Edstrom, industrial arts; Rebert
Fair, mathematics; Wilbur Funk,
choral music; John Monohan and
Paul Yakimi, special education;
Lee Ryker, biology; and Kay
Willardson, home economics.
by Cynthia Froom
“It was Thursday last time we
looked,” said Michelle Rex, sen
ior, concerning time differences
she encountered this summer as
an American Field Service stu
dent to Japan.
Michelle and 49 other
AFS students left San Fran
cisco on Thursday at 10
a.m. and arrived in Tokyo,
Japan, at 4 p.m. Friday.
After an orientation in Tokyo
and language lessons, the stu
dents were sent. to their fami
lies. Michelle took an eight hour-
train ride to Takamatsu where
her family was waiting.
Takamatsu, located on the is
land of Shikoku south of the
main island, means the “tall pine
tree” in Japanese.
“I found some difficulty
communicating at first with
my family,” commented Mi
chelle. “There was so much
I wanted to tell them, but
only my mother spoke a
little English.”
Japanese homes usually have
sliding doors that make one
large room or several smaller
rooms. There are no beds and
the floor is covered with “tata
mi,” a type of thick mat, which
is built into the floor and serves
as the bed. Michelle’s home was
much more “western” and she
had her own bed.
“Ochoogan,” a Japanese
festival, was celebrated in
the mid-summer and Mi
chelle found it comparable
to our Christmas. Almost
every day during the two
week period gifts of fruit,
candy, cheese and butter
came.
Michelle was honored by the
“tea ceremony club”, at her sis
ter’s school. After the ceremony
was performed, she was given a
“yucata,” a cotton kimono, as a
gift.
Dating in Japan is much dif-
MICHELLE REX, exchange student to Japan is honored by the
“tea ceremony” club at her Japanese sister’s school. Michelle
is wearing a “Yucata” which she was given as a gift after the
ceremony.
f er ent than in the United States.
Three or four couples may get
together on a Sunday afternoon
Assembly included
in Orientation day
Orientation day on August 30
allowed approximately 750 in
coming freshmen a preview look
at the school.
Organized by the executive
council the day began with an
assembly. Later there were sem
inars, tours and a chance to pay
fees,
“I thought they were a good
group . . . quiet in assembly,”
stated Rick Dinihanian, student
body president.
for a movie or a trip to the tea
and coffee house.
“The teen-agers of Japan wear
no mod clothing and I would say
that they are about two years
behind the US teen-agers,” said
Michelle. “However they do have
popular singers who sing songs
that the Beatties do,” she added.
JtampjuA, JfapsAA,
Saturday, September 10—
Football, 1:30 p.m., Frank
lin, there.
Wednesday, September 14—
Assembly
Thursday, September 15—
Nelson Denney tests.
Jean Lobb spends year as exchange student to Sweden
by Lorna Viken
Forty-four hours before sen
ior Jean Lobb left for New York
June 15 she was notified by the
American Field Service of the
opportunity to spend a year with
a family in Sweden.
Her wardrobe was pur
chased in thirty minutes.
She was given the multi
tude of required shots in
two days. Her passport met
her in New York.
Unaccompanied by the usual
adult, Jean and seven other AFS
exchange students from Oregon,
Southern Washington and North
ern California toured Chicago
and Washington, D.C. Before an
adult met them at the AFS dor
mitory in New York, a Green
wich Village exploration was in
cluded.
During the eleven days
aboard the ship “Seven
Seas” scheduled to arrive
July 1 in Rotterdam, Jean
and the other AFS students
attended special orientation
classes. One subject includ
ed the Swedish language.
Quotations are taken from
Jean’s letters to her family.
“Today they talked bn
customs and holidays. They
explained drinking prob
lems and how to make and
accept toasts. When one has
a birthday, it is the custom
to remain in bed until the
entire family comes in and
wakes you with their sing
ing.
“Crayfishing is a very popular
Swedish pastime during August.
Christmas was told about. “And
the food; herring in the northern
part of Sweden is so smelly that
apartment houses rule that it
must be eaten outdoors.
“In the south, pig’s blood soup
may be refused quite graciously.
The other things sounded deli
cious. (P S. Sunday, no classes.
Monday, free love is orientation
topic.)”
Living in a rural area on a
2500 acre farm is a new exper
ience for Jean. Most AFS ex
change students apply for an en
vironment similar to the one
they have grown up in.
Norrby is the name of her
Swedish family. Jean has
four brothers and a sister
Lena, 19. The oldest brother,
Jean Lobb
23, is studying in California.
A 21-year-old boy is in the
service and there are two
more sons aged 16 and 12.
“Tillflykten has begun to feel
like home. The very name of the
farm means “the refuge.” This
family took 'me in as a member
immediately, ahd the only “dif
ficulties” in adjustment were lit
tle ones: getting used to a differ
ent bathtub (this one is about 6
inches narrower and 6 inches
deeper than the one at home, I
am sadly reminded as I bruise
my elbows and trip climbing
out); and getting used to a new
sugar spoon (this one is shaped
like a flattened out gravy ladle,
with little holes in the bottom.
Of course, I didn’t notice that
the holes existed until I had car
ried a spoonful of sugar to my
dish of sour milk, from the sugar
bowl across the table. By that
time, the spoon was empty, and
there was a little white trail
across the tablecloth.”
The father of the family works
as head of a board which decides
what construction can be done in
the suburbs of Stockholm, which
is forty minutes from home.
“We came out onto a huge
cobblestone marketplace
with a huge fountain in the
center, barrels of bright yel
low flowers, an outdoor cafe
in one corner, and a view of
the water, the beautiful
water.
“Stockholm is all built on the
water, it seems. There are four
teen islands on which the city is
built and some forty bridges con
necting them.”
Bicycles are the main trans
portation for travelling through
the countryside. “Our bikes ar
rived July 6, rusty and old,
rented from the nearby police
station at Skellefted. We’ve ex
plored all the country roads
around here.”
Jean has been away from
home for almost three
months. During this time
she has learned much about
Sweden, its customs, cul
tures, and people. But she
has also learned about Amer
ica and, most important,
about herself.
“Now I see what is meant by
the ostentatiousness of Ameri
can tourists. Everywhere. But
Americans—much as you may
embarass me here, much as I
wish you could be just a little
more sensitive to the country
you are now in, I’ve never loved
you more.
“When I see an American now,
I immediately feel a bond, a kin
ship, and I love you more than
anything because we have some
thing in common. I am proud to
be an American, and I think
America is great — has been
greater, can be greater.”