A VOCATIONAL SCIENCE CLUB 751

A VOCATIONAL SCIENCE CLUB.

BY MABEL SPENCER,Granite City, III.

The activities of a club must be different, they mustbe worthwhile, interesting, and accomplishable to attractthe modern high school boy. Membership in any organ-ization may become an educational recreation or a bore-some duty, but most of all the program of a science clubmay appeal to those instincts and attitudes most suitedto the teen aged boy who delights in going places anddoing things.

Active membership, in our club, the Vocational ScienceClub of Granite City, Illinois, is limited to forty. Eachboy must give some very definite service to the club inorder to continue his membership. Every opportunity isgiven him to display some ability already developed andto develop other worth-while abilities. We attempt todevelop his scientific and social horizon, to give him in-terests which may be carried over into his future recrea-tions, and to establish in his mind the belief that lifeholds much of promise for the clean, intelligent, and en-thusiastic worker.The activities of our club are greatly facilitated by the

efficient and whole hearted co-operation of Mr. Harold B.Diemer, director of Vocational Education, and his entirefaculty. Our unusual industrial location and our near-ness to St. Louis make our educational trips of great valueand not too expensive.Our science club specializes in interesting trips. Dur-

ing the past year we have visited in St. Louis: The BellTelephone Company, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, theGradwohl Technical Laboratories, the Auto Show, andthe Washington University Engineers’ Open House. Inour own community we have seen: the St. Louis Cokeand Iron Company, the American Steel Company,Swift’s Meat Packing Plant, an ice company, and theLaclede Steel Company at Alton. Most of the trips weremade on the students own time and attendance was op-tional. A discussion of what was to be seen before tak-ing the trip has been found a decided advantage in help-ing the boys understand what was seen. Unselfishness

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in club activities must be fostered if the best interests ofthe boy and school are to be maintained. On most ofour trips other pupils of the department were invited togo with us.

Well-rounded club activity requires some educationalimpetus. We have found that each student has someunusual ability or hobby, about which he likes to talkand to which other members enjoy listening. Our out-standing programs of student production included: anillustrated lecture on explosives by a student who workedat the Western Cartridge Company; a lesson on how tomake the various types of candy was given by the son ofa confectioner, after which we all made candy; a talkon a trip to England was made by a boy whose earlychildhood was spent in England; and talks on the vari-ous sciences were made by boys who were being takeninto the club. Our club quartet is one of our "finest" ac-complishments and helps add variety and enthusiasm tomany of our meetings.

Outside talent is brought to our club and much interestis maintained in this way. Two very interesting pro-grams of this type were presented this year. One was aFirst Aid Program given by a troop of Boy Scouts whohad become especially proficient at this work. The otherprogram was an illustrated lecture on "The Science ofPhoto-engraving" given by Mr. F. H. Decker, vice-presi-dent of the Harrison Company Engravers of St. Louis.Through the combined efforts of our city librarian andour club, Dr. A. E. Bostwick, famous Science Editor ofthe Literary Digest, came to our city and delivered apublic lecture on "Making Science Popular."The club must take some part in civic activities if it

is to be worthwhile, help to further an interest in thecontributions of Science. Our club has helped with re-lief work. We sponsored distribution of food to theneedy at Thanksgiving time, decorated the goal postsfor a charity football game, and our quartet sang at aCharity Benefit Show sponsored by one of our localtheatres.

There are few organizations which can contributemore to the general well being of a school than an active

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science club. We have sponsored safety days, architec-tural and scientific displays, and a poster contest; andwe have contributed to every edition of our high schoolpaper. Our members have been active as class officers,stage managers, and art editors. We managed thelunch stand for the summer school students and pub-lished a mimeographed summer school paper everytwo weeks. We won first prize in an all high school giftshop contest with our gift, which was a memory bookwith the senior ring insignia on it. We award eachsemester, an honorary four year membership in ourscience club to the beginning freshman having the high-est scholastic average in our department.The social life of the club has been varied and inex-

pensive. Among the most interesting events have beenour initiations, our Faculty-Parents Nights, and our ex-change parties with the girls’ Home Economics Club.We have had parties for various festive occasions such asChristmas, Hallowe’en, and St. Patrick’s. A treasurehunt, a chili supper, a swimming party, a boat excursion,and a hay ride are included in our list of social affairs.Our motto is ^Never repeat the same general type of en-tertainment." Something different is more interestingand educational.

Our civic, school, and social activities have led us tobelieve that the wider the range of activities of the clubthe greater the benefits derived by its members. Affilia-tion with the Illinois Junior Academy of Science has beenan inspiration to us to have a worthwhile club. Thir-teen members attended the 1930 meeting held at theUniversity of Illinois, and several of our boys went toPeoria this May. Our contributions to the Junior Acad-emy have included: an academy emblem which wasawarded as first prize for the best group of posters atthe 1930 meeting, an edition of the Junior AcademyNewsletter, and a Science Week program.The activities of our eighteen months old club are

merely suggestive, any civic or school undertaking offersopportunities to a science club for timely and interestingperformance. A science club’s success may be judgedonly by its service to its members, and community.Would you enjoy being a member of your Science Club?