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         The SM West Epic Vol IV No 25  April 1, 1966               

Suzanne Caston To Go To KSTA Conference:  This Saturday Suzanne Caston, senior, will represent West at a matriculation conference sponsored by the Kansas State Teachers Association.  The conference will be held in Topeka.      The purpose is to bring out the problems high school students have in transferring from their senior year to college.  The problems will be presented at this meeting and the solutions will be worked out at a later date.      Some of the problems to be discussed are the transition from one college to another and from high school to college, when students should plan for their college education, and what should the schools do to help the students with their problems.

Quill and Scroll Banquet, Initiation Held Tuesday:  Last Tuesday night West’s forty-five Quill and Scroll members for 1966 attended a banquet and received initiation into the organization.  Initiates from East and North were also included in the ceremony.  Guest speaker was Dr. Warren Agee, dean of the School of Journalism at KU.      Senior Mike Coleman, a member of Quill and Scroll from last year, delivered a speech of welcome before the banquet.  Rick Mundis, also a senior, delivered the invocation.      This was the second year West had hosted the Quill and Scroll banquet and initiation.  One hundred-fifty-seven students from the Shawnee Mission district attended.

Flipped Coin Tells Who Gives ‘Glass’ For Which Night:  At the first read-through for “The Glass Menagerie,” Mr. Bill Coplin, director, flipped a coin to see which cast would present the show which night.      The results were that John Ericson, Karen Kramer, Elaine Eaton, and Mike Blasberg would present the play on Friday night.      Saturday night Larry Chipley, Beverly Brown, Paula Miner, and Charlie Gullet will inact the roles.      The show will be given on May 6 and 7.  Mr. Coplin said that for  the first time the names of the casts will appear on the posters.  This is going to help the students decide which night they wish to see.      Steve Johnson, student director, said that people should come both nights and compare the jobs of the two different casts.

Scientists Earn Ribbons At SM District Fair:  Seven West students won ribbons at the SM District science fair last Saturday.  Each student was required to set up a display and submit a paper.      Blue ribbon winners were Floyd Hale and Dick Smith.      Eddie Aten, Barry Farber, and Myrlene Staten captured second places.  Karen Johnson and Richard Rudy won white ribbons.      Gold pin winners were selected from blue ribbon winners; West, however, can not claim any pin winners.

About 700 Faculty and Administration Members from the Shawnee Mission District Will Go On Strike Monday, April 4:  This was decided last Wednesday in a meeting of Shawnee Mission teachers at SM East.      Each group of teachers presented a list of grievances to the Kansas State Board of Education.      News of the strike was asked to be suppressed until today so as not to interfere in any way with this week’s classes.      A general list of grievances included demands for higher wages, more fringe benefits, better working conditions, and shorter hours.      When asked how long the strike would take, one teacher, who asked to remain anonymous, said, “It looks like it may last until the first week of May.  If it does, students will have to go to school until possibly the Fourth of July to compensate for it.”      School buses will not be in operation during the strike.  All extra-curricular activities have been cancelled for the duration of the strike.      Three teachers will be on picket duty at each school at all times.  Although students may want to aid their favorite teachers by carrying picket signs, it is requested that they refrain from doing so.  It is feared the strike would then resemble a student demonstration and lead to unnecessary difficulties.      Picket lines will be set up promptly at 8 o’clock next Monday morning.  No violence is expected, but students are urged to stay away from the schools until the strike is ended.      Dreamers, April Fool.

Student Government Day Must Improve:  As a student progresses through high school he finds that he grows accustomed to the school and its activities.  He finds that the events that fascinated him as a sophomore fail to interest him as a senior.  Maybe this was the reason we feel that student government day this year was a phony.      We remember coming to school on that day with an attitude of anticipation and eagerness.  This year we recall wondering why certain people were wearing suits.  Very few classes had a student teacher.  Is this our fault we feel that student government day is going along the same path as Student Congress and the prom?      The idea behind student government day is that students should learn by practical experience how a school is handled.  This idea is heralded by the elders as “great.”  Yet, like most great thoughts, no one dares follow it through.  Students must learn, however, that if an idea like student government day is to exist, the impetus for its success lies with the students.--- Dave Chipman

Viking Pepster Personifies Spirit:  Roaming pep club week after week is a mysterious Viking whose name only a few know.  He is the peppiest member of pep club, he has never missed a game and has even represented West in a parade.  During those chilly nights at football games, he cheered loud ad long and never once complained of the bitter cold.  While we were griping and guzzling hot coffee, this dauntless warrior cheered on---and he does not even own a coat.      When did he rest, not during the games, he was always full of pep and spirit.  In basketball season he became a vital part of the half-time ceremonies.      Doesn’t it appear strange that this hero goes unsung?  Who is this honored Viking you ask?  He is our mascot, Sha-Mi-We-Vi.      It is true many new students and many old ones do not know his name---the greatest Viking of us all.  What a pity!---Sue Roath

Letters To The Editor:  Dear Editors:  Did it ever occur to you that there are certain students in this school who work just as hard as anyone else but never get credit for their efforts?  I’m speaking mainly of our varsity basketball team.      It seems that the EPIC prints articles on a chosen few players continuously, week after week, and rarely, if ever, even mentions the other boys who try just as hard and put out all they’ve got to win for Shawnee Mission West.      Recently, a series of articles appeared in the EPIC on the backgrounds of certain players.  I feel that each of the team members should receive just as much praise and coverage in the paper as any other.      Without these low-scorers, who incidentally do not even have their number of points printed in the paper after each game, we wouldn’t even have a basketball team.      This goes for all participants in other sorts who proudly work to make west the best.   Peggy Carr            It seems, through the inconsistency in your letter, that you have pointed out one reason for limited credit in print for some people.      In your first two paragraphs, you decry the EPIC for limiting recognition to a few players.  Yet, in your last paragraph, you limit the areas of recognition to sports.  What about the areas of debate, speech, music, fine arts, student publications, industrial arts, drill team, Student Congress, and many others that have participants “who proudly work to make West the best?”  Shouldn’t these areas receive “just as much praise and coverage… as any other?”      Quite obviously, we can’t devote equal time and space to every participant of every activity.  However, this doesn’t mean that the varsity basketball team doesn’t get its necessary recognition in other forms.  Any member of the varsity basketball squad probably gains more recognition than, for example, a person who wins a science scholarship.  The point is, there are people who do what they do, important as it may be, without giving thought to getting their name in print.---The Eds.

Editorial Column  Despite Despair, Draft Democratic  by Rick Mundis:  It must be a horrifying experience for a male in this country to turn eighteen.  In some states he can vote, buy beer and cigarettes, and in all states he is eligible for the draft.  A few years ago the last of these ominous responsibilities  would not have appeared so threatening.  Now with the abrupt expansion of the war in Viet Nam it has become of the utmost importance for most American males between the ages of eighteen and twenty-six.      “But it ain’t fair!” cries Joe Eligible who just received his draft notice.  “I don’t want to go wallowing around in some muddy old rice paddy, shooting at some sniper hidden ‘way up in a tree.”      He’s right.  It isn’t fair.  But we have news for him--- it was not meant to be fair.  In “Time”, General Hershey insists that the Selective Service is just not that selective.  It is designed to furnish the country with the best men it can find to protect it.  There are arguments against the complaint that the draft is undemocratic.  In “Time” magazine, Clifford Oates, chairman of the Bergen County (N.J.) draft board says, “It’s anything but undemocratic because the system recognizes that all the registrants are individuals with their own peculiar problems and their own peculiar needs.  What would be undemocratic would be to draft everyone regardless of his individual circumstances.”      Most students do not look forward to going into the Army (voluntarily or otherwise) but it is no longer what it used to be.  There are countless opportunities for training to learn valuable skills.      If we have any respect for our country at all, any amount of pride in the democratic system, we should be willing to serve it.

Auto Mechanics Make Good Headstart on Career:  The boys in Mr. Delbert Fluty’s auto mechanics classes are there for two main reasons: to learn what makes a car tick, and how to make it tick when it won’t.  This goes a lot deeper than most people realize.      The first year is almost entirely bookwork.  They have to learn how an engine runs, why it runs, and how it moves the car body.  They have to learn how it stops, how to put it together, and they have to work with ratios, horse power, cubic inches, and other things.      The second year they get to dig into the car itself, and learn how to put things back together again once they have them apart.  Right now, they are overhauling different engines in the shop.      The kind of cars they work on varies.  They work on any year and any kind except sports cars and cars that have modified or changed.  They don’t work on floor shifts, except Renaults, and they specialize in them.      One of the students in 6^th and 7^th hours, George Sunday, remarked that most of the cars they work on belong to the teachers her at West.  George summed up the course when he said, “The course is a lot of fun and if you want to be a mechanic, you’ve got a great head start.”

New Addition to Viking Ship Notes Differences Between U.S. and Chile:  Valeria Neumann is a new exchange student from Temuco, Chile.  She has been in the United States about seven months and previously attended Lee’s Summitt.      Valeria went to an all girls school with an enrollment of 2,000.  The girls wore uniforms of blue skirts, white blouses, and blue sweaters and blazers.      “School hours are quite different in Temuco,” stated Valeria.  “We go to school from March to December, six days a week.  The morning session lasts fro 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 and the afternoon classes start at 2:30 and end at5:00.  We go home for lunch and a two hour ‘siesta’ where everyone rests and relaxes.”      Valeria is making her American home with the Pat Thomas family.  They have one seven year old daughter, but in Chile Valeria has three brothers and two sisters.      Collecting stamps and reading are Valeria’s hobbies.  She enjoys modern music, but that doesn’t include the Beatles.      Valeria takes physics, art, English, American history, physical education, and biology.  She enjoys biology and plans to major in it in college.      Although Valeria is classed as a senior she must go back to Chile to study for five months before she can graduate.      Movies and coffee houses are the main places for recreation in Chile according to Valeria.  Many of the movies are American-made.      When Valeria arrived in the United States she was impressed by the friendliness of the people.      “Everyone was speaking in English and being very nice.  I learned English in school, but to hear everyone speaking it confused me at first,” stated Valeria.      “From what I have seen of West, I like it very much,” she added.

Zimmerman’s 880 Win Leads Way To Seventh Place in State Indoor Meet:  Dave Zimmerman, along with Jim Stringer and Steve O’Hare, led the Shawnee Mission west Vikings to seventh place in the state indoor meet held at Manhattan, Kansas, on March 26.      Although the cindermen managed 12 points for seventh place, had they scored two more points they would have jumped to a third place tie.      Outstanding performances were turned in by Zimmerman, Stringer, and O’Hare.  Stringer set an all time school record for the state indoor 440 yard dash, running the distance in 51.8 seconds.  This time was good for third place and three points.  Jim’s time was only six-tenths of a second off the winner’s pace.      O’Hare also captured three points for the Viking track team by taking third in the high jump.  Steve was able to make heights of 5-8, 5-10, and 6-0 on first attempts, but missed three tries at 6-2.      The other six points were turned in by Zimmerman who ran an amazing 1:57 in the 880 to take first place in the event.  This time he not only set a new school record but also a new state indoor record.  He broke the record by seven-tenths of a second and his nearest competitor was approximately 30 yards behind and 4.1 seconds slower.      In other words, Dave was running against time instead of another runner.  This time was Dave’s best in the open 880 but he ran a 1:55.8 anchor in the medley relay at the KU Relays last year.  His sub two-minute timing marked the eleventh time in his career that he has accomplished the feat.  Dave placed fourth in the same event last year with a time of 2:02.5.      Other good performances were turned in by Don Holman, 20-5 ¼ in the broad jump, and Tom Arnold with an 8-1 in the 60 yard high hurdles.  Both were new school records for the state indoor meet.

Senior-Faculty B-Ball Game Nears;  ‘66ers’  Seeking First Student Victory:  Wednesday at 2:30, the annual Senior-Faculty basketball game will get under way.  So far in the history of West, the Seniors have failed to overcome the Faculty’s vast array of stars.      Playing for the Faculty will be: George Adkins, Ross Correll, Bob Harris, Clayton Henry, Terry Herman, Paul Loving, Carl Pugh, Marion Novotny, Harvey Shepard, Larry Shepard, and Mel Williams.     Seniors who will be representing the student faction at West are: Larry Broockerd, Steve Carlson, Leo Harris, Mike Hover, Keith Hudson, Doug Jackson, Don Klement, Tim Munger, Steve nelson, Greg Netzer, Steve Robinson, and Jay Thomas.  Coaching the Seniors will be Glen Ridgeway.      The game will be played in two twenty-minute halves with a ten-minute intermission.  Due to the lack of time, the clock will not be stopped for time-outs, free-throws, jump-balls, or any other time consuming action.  Each team will have four timeouts, but none will be allowed in the last three minutes of play.      Official Scorekeeper for the game will be Bob Buller; timekeeper will be Dick McAllister, and referees will be Bill Tanner and Jim Bloomer.      The administration asks for students’ cooperation in getting into the gym quickly so that the game may begin according to schedule.