Bloomington High School, The Gothic, 1928, Page 110

Description:	m mDebating and public speaking have long been outstanding activities of theschool. Formerly each member of the graduating class was required to deliveran oration as a part of the commencement exercises. During the year 1885-86,a contest in public speaking was held with the Preparatory Department of theUniversity. The South Central Association, organized before 1900, held contests in public speaking, in which Bloomington High School participated.The first formal organization for debating mentioned in school publications or local newspapers was the Bloomington High School Debating Club,which was organized in 1907 and lasted a year or two. The Dialectic Society,founded in 1913, the Speakers Club, founded in 1918, and the Philo-matheon Club, founded in 1922 were all short-lived organizations for thefurthering of debating and public speaking in the High School. There is atpresent no debating society, but interest in public speaking is still evinced bythe participation in contests. Since the year of 1923-24, Bloomington hasbeen creditably represented in the State High School Discussion League andthe National Oratorical Contest, sponsored by the newspapers of the UnitedStates.The first High School paper, the Specula, was published in 1908. Atfirst it was a bi-weekly publication; later it was increased in size and publishedmonthly. The Gothic News was published first in 1912. It was very popularwith the students but shared the chief fault of its predecessor, the inability tosupport itself.During the year of 1913-14, the name was changed to the Optimist.When the paper was on the verge of failure due to an insufficient number ofsubscribers, the difficulties were solved by securing enough advertising to payfor publication and by distributing the paper free to all students. The Optimist is edited by students under faculty supervision and serves as the officialorgan of the school.In 1923, the Press Club was organized to further the interest in journalism among the students and to provide training for future Optimist andGothic staffs. The work of the club was in reporting, editorial writing, andfeature writing. It was created with the idea of having staffs of the schoolsliterary productions selected from it, but has not been continued.There have been glee clubs in Bloomington High School since 1912,when Miss Ida Peterson formed a girls glee club. Her untiring efforts inworking with the glee clubs of the next few years have made their influencefelt in the student life of the school. During the school year of 1913-14, theGerman Chorus was organized to enable the students to get a more intimateview of German life by singing German songs and carrying on conversationswholly in German. Since participation in the chorus added three per cent, toones German grade, it proved very popular and continued until anti-Germansentiment caused the removal of German from the curriculum when the UnitedStates entered the World War.Page One Hundred and Ten
Source:	http://cdm17129.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/hs-bloom/id/3272
Collection:	Bloomington High School

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