A Class Day of Mud and Ivy
Students of the class of 1915 traded their books for tools to beautify the school grounds, planting trees and laying a stone wall in a historic day of communal labor.
Last Friday, class rooms were deserted and the trials of problems undone were forgotten in a day of frolicksome work on the High School grounds. With rakes, shovels, and picks, the youngsters made the campus look like somebody was at home. After the day’s work was over, 60 permanent shade trees had been planted, 30 ornamental shrubs and 12 rose bushes had been set out, a new driveway opened, a road built, a cesspool filled, and the loose stones converted into a sightly stone wall along three sides of the campus. The work was done under the direction of the Senior class. In the evening, the Seniors, in Indian costumes, made a treaty with M. M. Moulton for the work done during the day and sang a farewell song in the Chinook language.
“Some day, somebody will recline in the inviting shade of the spreading trees which fringe the High School campus... and then memory will romp back over the years to the days of the class of 'Fifteen'.”
Campus Day captures a bygone era of civic idealism and 'booster' spirit in education. While the 'Indian costumes' and 'treaty' reflect the era's problematic appropriation of Indigenous culture, the event itself highlights how high schools once served as the literal and symbolic hubs of civic improvement.
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