Olympia Collegiate Institute Is Busting at the Seams
With more than 175 students enrolled, a new lecture series underway, and a library outgrowing its shelves, the C.C.I. is already talking about a bigger building.
Next Monday night the Hon. Allen Weir will deliver a lecture at the Methodist church on the subject of “Oratory.” This will be the second lecture of a series arranged by Professor Covington for the benefit of students attending the Olympia Collegiate Institute. It promises to be a strong attraction.
This series of lectures is among the special features of the fall and winter terms. Yesterday closed the first week of the winter term. Over 175 students have enrolled, and it is expected that the number will reach 200 before Christmas.
Seventy-five of the students are from towns and cities throughout the state, while 100 of them live in Olympia. The leading state and city officials are patrons of the institute, together with many leading families of other cities and towns in Washington.
The faculty this winter is exceptionally strong. President Covington has charge of the collegiate studies, while Professor A. C. Jones handles those of the normal department. Professor W. H. Beeler gives instruction in commercial matter, while Miss R. T. Smith looks after grammar, English literature, rhetoric, etc.
Miss Mamie E. Covington, who teaches the classes in music, will give a soiree musicale in the assembly hall of the school, Wednesday night, Dec. 16. There will be fourteen numbers on the programme besides the parts assigned to the Glee Club. Thorough preparation has been made for this entertainment, and those who attend will hear something interesting.
Mrs. A. C. Jones, who teaches elocution and oratory, gave a very successful recital a short time ago. Miss Aria C. Brintnall is doing well in the art department.
Prof. James Ferguson has thirty-one students in his stenography class. This department was started as an experiment not long ago. It has succeeded far beyond the expectation of the president. Prof. Ferguson is a graduate of a well-known London school of stenography.
The school library continues to grow while the free reading room contains a fine assortment of daily and weekly newspapers, periodicals, etc. Springer & White have contributed the lumber needed to make shelves for use in the library. The institute is growing at such a lively rate that it will not be long before a new, large and commodious building will be an absolute necessity.
“The institute is growing at such a lively rate that it will not be long before a new, large and commodious building will be an absolute necessity.”
In 1891, Olympia’s collegiate institute was a civic point of pride, drawing students from across Washington and counting leading officials among its patrons. Today’s debates over school capacity, vocational training, and public investment in education turn on the same question: when a school succeeds, who pays for the room to grow?
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