| Cruisin' the Past |
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| Cruisin’ the Past by Ed Dooley |
The Sciences at CHS
At the start of our Sophomore year, the United States received the shocking news
that the Soviet Union had successfully launched the world’s first earth-orbiting
artificial satellite. The date was 4 October 1957, and almost immediately our nation
found itself in what has been called “the Sputnik crisis.” How, people asked, could
the Soviets have beaten the U.S. into space? Not only did this event spark a crisis of
confidence in America’s assumed superiority in science and technology, but it also
called into question the health of the nation’s entire educational system. Within a
year, money began to flow to support scientific research and programs aimed at
educating a new generation of scientists and engineers. At Catalina High School,
science and math programs flourished, and talented students in these subjects
began to receive recognition for their accomplishments.
The 1960 Torch documents the rising importance of science education at CHS.
“Because it now plays such an important part in our daily lives,” the editors of the
annual wrote, “a new emphasis has been put on science in the high school
curriculum. In a science class a student learns the scientific methods for problem
solving. Nine hundred and thirty students are enrolled in the classes.” These
students were taught biology, chemistry, and physics by ten instructors, and there
were twelve instructors of algebra, geometry, and trigonometry. Although there
were no pure engineering classes at CHS, classes in aeronautics and machines
were taught in the vocational arts program, which might be considered a form of
mechanical engineering. In all, twenty-four teachers taught these science and
mathematics classes for a student body of approximately 2,300.
Of the many special interest groups and clubs at CHS, two were devoted to science
and math. One was the “Computers Club” which, despite its name, had nothing to
do with modern-day computers, or even calculators, but with
learning to compute with a slide rule. A photo in the Torch
shows Mr. Ralph Futrell, the club’s faculty adviser, pointing
to a large slide rule. Its caption reads: “Members learned
the basic fundamentals of operating the various types of
slide rules available to students.” Identifying science and
math students in those pre-calculator and computer days
was easy as they usually carried the slide rule in a small
case attached to their belts. Students from CHS regularly
entered the annual State Math Contest and had more first
and second place winners in the test than any other high
school in Arizona, according to Futrell.
The second club, advised by Mr. Glenn Rothrock, was the
Bi-Chem-Phy Science Club of Catalina. “The purposes of
this club,” according to the Torch, “are to increase knowledge
and perfect skills in science, promote interests in science
among students and the general public, and to assist
students to prepare for science scholarships and awards.
” The Bi-Chem-Phy Science Club was a small organization,
only about sixteen members (eight girls and seven boys in
1959-60), but it was very active. In addition to promoting
the study of science, the club invited speakers to the school
and initiated an annual science fair in 1960.
The Science Fair was held in the cafeteria and was open to CHS students, Doolen
Junior High School, Townsend Junior High School, and all elementary schools of the
district. Students who won awards at the fair were then able to compete in the
Regional Science Fair held at the University of Arizona. Winners of the 1960 fair
among CHS entrants were Bob Hoffman ’63 and Jarel Hambenne ’60. Hoffman’s
project was a microscope illuminator. Hambenne’s exhibit was an examination of
shock waves in a supersonic wind tunnel by means of a schlieren system. “It was so
complicated that only an engineer could understand what he was
doing,” stated Mrs. Childs, coordinator of the fair. Hambenne
went on the to Southern Regional Fair, held at the UA, where
he was one of two Grand Sweepstakes in Physical Science
and won a first place in engineering, a certificate of merit, two
gold medals, two blue ribbons, and an expense paid trip to
the National Fair and an invitation to exhibit to at the Western
Electronics Supplies and Contractors show in Los Angeles,
California . He took his project to the Eleventh National
Science Fair, held in Indianapolis, Indiana, where he won
fourth place in a field of 359 entrants from the US, France,
Italy, Germany, and other countries.
Individual students, with the help of faculty advisers, engaged in a wide variety of
interesting science projects, some of which caught the attention of the school in
general. One clever project was conducted by sophomore biology student Harry
Phillips and was reported by The Trumpeteer. The project involved measuring the
effect of tranquilizers on the temperature of a mouse named “Snickel-Fritz.” The
mouse’s temperature was recorded by “the world’s smallest transmitter” attached
with a harness to its back, an electronic device that was developed, in part, by the
husband of Catalina biology teacher Mrs. Virginia Childs.
And now from mice to bees. In 1960, John Fountain ’64 developed a project on bee
stings that was published in the American Bee Journal. The project involved
collecting and examining, under a special microscope, a number of bee stingers.
Fountain found that the bee poison is pumped out by valves through a poison canal
into the wound and not squeezed out from a poison bulb. He entered his project in
the Southern Arizona Science Fair, held at the UA, and received first prize in
zoology and third prize in the general biological division.
Of our classmates who have responded over the years to reunion surveys, we learn
that out of a class of 521 members, twenty-three entered careers in science,
engineering, and computing, and fifteen entered medical professions. Others
became science, math, or engineering high school teachers or professors in
colleges and universities. The accomplishments of CHS science students, along
with those of other students in other fields, led at the end of the 1960 academic year
to the school being named one of the nation’s top 30 high schools. All agreed that
CHS was doing its part to meet the “Sputnik crisis.”
At the start of our Sophomore year, the United States received the shocking news
that the Soviet Union had successfully launched the world’s first earth-orbiting
artificial satellite. The date was 4 October 1957, and almost immediately our nation
found itself in what has been called “the Sputnik crisis.” How, people asked, could
the Soviets have beaten the U.S. into space? Not only did this event spark a crisis of
confidence in America’s assumed superiority in science and technology, but it also
called into question the health of the nation’s entire educational system. Within a
year, money began to flow to support scientific research and programs aimed at
educating a new generation of scientists and engineers. At Catalina High School,
science and math programs flourished, and talented students in these subjects
began to receive recognition for their accomplishments.
The 1960 Torch documents the rising importance of science education at CHS.
“Because it now plays such an important part in our daily lives,” the editors of the
annual wrote, “a new emphasis has been put on science in the high school
curriculum. In a science class a student learns the scientific methods for problem
solving. Nine hundred and thirty students are enrolled in the classes.” These
students were taught biology, chemistry, and physics by ten instructors, and there
were twelve instructors of algebra, geometry, and trigonometry. Although there
were no pure engineering classes at CHS, classes in aeronautics and machines
were taught in the vocational arts program, which might be considered a form of
mechanical engineering. In all, twenty-four teachers taught these science and
mathematics classes for a student body of approximately 2,300.
Of the many special interest groups and clubs at CHS, two were devoted to science
and math. One was the “Computers Club” which, despite its name, had nothing to
do with modern-day computers, or even calculators, but with
learning to compute with a slide rule. A photo in the Torch
shows Mr. Ralph Futrell, the club’s faculty adviser, pointing
to a large slide rule. Its caption reads: “Members learned
the basic fundamentals of operating the various types of
slide rules available to students.” Identifying science and
math students in those pre-calculator and computer days
was easy as they usually carried the slide rule in a small
case attached to their belts. Students from CHS regularly
entered the annual State Math Contest and had more first
and second place winners in the test than any other high
school in Arizona, according to Futrell.
The second club, advised by Mr. Glenn Rothrock, was the
Bi-Chem-Phy Science Club of Catalina. “The purposes of
this club,” according to the Torch, “are to increase knowledge
and perfect skills in science, promote interests in science
among students and the general public, and to assist
students to prepare for science scholarships and awards.
” The Bi-Chem-Phy Science Club was a small organization,
only about sixteen members (eight girls and seven boys in
1959-60), but it was very active. In addition to promoting
the study of science, the club invited speakers to the school
and initiated an annual science fair in 1960.
The Science Fair was held in the cafeteria and was open to CHS students, Doolen
Junior High School, Townsend Junior High School, and all elementary schools of the
district. Students who won awards at the fair were then able to compete in the
Regional Science Fair held at the University of Arizona. Winners of the 1960 fair
among CHS entrants were Bob Hoffman ’63 and Jarel Hambenne ’60. Hoffman’s
project was a microscope illuminator. Hambenne’s exhibit was an examination of
shock waves in a supersonic wind tunnel by means of a schlieren system. “It was so
complicated that only an engineer could understand what he was
doing,” stated Mrs. Childs, coordinator of the fair. Hambenne
went on the to Southern Regional Fair, held at the UA, where
he was one of two Grand Sweepstakes in Physical Science
and won a first place in engineering, a certificate of merit, two
gold medals, two blue ribbons, and an expense paid trip to
the National Fair and an invitation to exhibit to at the Western
Electronics Supplies and Contractors show in Los Angeles,
California . He took his project to the Eleventh National
Science Fair, held in Indianapolis, Indiana, where he won
fourth place in a field of 359 entrants from the US, France,
Italy, Germany, and other countries.
Individual students, with the help of faculty advisers, engaged in a wide variety of
interesting science projects, some of which caught the attention of the school in
general. One clever project was conducted by sophomore biology student Harry
Phillips and was reported by The Trumpeteer. The project involved measuring the
effect of tranquilizers on the temperature of a mouse named “Snickel-Fritz.” The
mouse’s temperature was recorded by “the world’s smallest transmitter” attached
with a harness to its back, an electronic device that was developed, in part, by the
husband of Catalina biology teacher Mrs. Virginia Childs.
And now from mice to bees. In 1960, John Fountain ’64 developed a project on bee
stings that was published in the American Bee Journal. The project involved
collecting and examining, under a special microscope, a number of bee stingers.
Fountain found that the bee poison is pumped out by valves through a poison canal
into the wound and not squeezed out from a poison bulb. He entered his project in
the Southern Arizona Science Fair, held at the UA, and received first prize in
zoology and third prize in the general biological division.
Of our classmates who have responded over the years to reunion surveys, we learn
that out of a class of 521 members, twenty-three entered careers in science,
engineering, and computing, and fifteen entered medical professions. Others
became science, math, or engineering high school teachers or professors in
colleges and universities. The accomplishments of CHS science students, along
with those of other students in other fields, led at the end of the 1960 academic year
to the school being named one of the nation’s top 30 high schools. All agreed that
CHS was doing its part to meet the “Sputnik crisis.”
| Ralph Futrell |
| Glenn Rothrock |
| Virginia Childs |
Click on the image
below to watch the
launching of Sputnik
into space.
below to watch the
launching of Sputnik
into space.
