BUY A
vSUB.
VOL. XXXIX, No. 1
THE BLACKBIRD
Published by the Journalism Class of Rocky Mount Senior Hirh School
BUY A
SUB.
ROCKY MOUNT. N. C.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13. 1968
AFS STUDENT—Susan Williams is hosting Varune Virabadd-
hama, AFS student from Bangkok, Thailand, (Photo by Kille-
•brew)
RMSH Student Body Hosts
AFS Varune Virabaddhama
Varurte Virabaddhama, AFS
student from Bangkok, Thai
land, is spending this school
year at Rocky Mount Senior
home of Mr. and
Mrs.- Charles C. Williains, with
her ‘American Sister, Susan Wil
liams-
This year, Varune is taking
typing, U. S. history, World geo
graphy, English 12, French 3,
and study hall. In Thailand, she
says, the courses are somewhat
similar, but the students do not
have a choice as to what sub
jects they would like to take.
TTiey are assigned to certain
subjects- Also in Thailand, it is
icquired that they wear uni-
fforms to class-
Varune has had twelve years
of schooling in Thailand- She al
so spent one month at the Uni
versity of Bangkok, where she
will return after leaving the
United States in June-
In giving her opinion of the
students at Rocky Mount Senior
High, Varune said “They’re so
nice and friendly.” She related
that she 'had one major prob
lem, “I can’t remember
names.”
“I like reading collecting
stamps, dancing and riding bi
cycles,” she said when ^ed
her special interests-
Varune has one older brother,
age twenty-two, who is studying
law at the University of Bang
kok- Her family also includes
one younger brother, 16, and
one younger sister, nine-
The family resides in Bang
kok where hir father is a judge-
Principal Colombo Challenges
RM Student Body To High Goals
Rocky Mount Senior High of
ficially opened the 1968-69
school year Friday morning,
August 30 in a short assembly,
with Principal V- J. Columbo
giving the opening address to
the entire student body.
The assembly was called to
order by Emmitt Gladstone,
vice-president of the Student
Organization. He then led the
students in the singing of the
National Anthem-
The program was then turnetl
over to the president of the
Student Organization, John
Kincheloe- John began by wel
coming the students back to
school on behalf of the student
government, and also welcom
ing the Sophomores to their
first year at RMSH, after which
he introduced the speaker,
RMSH Principal V. J. Columbo.
Mr. Columbo began by wel
coming the students back to the
beginning of another year of
school, and reminded the class
es of the value of a good high
school education and challenged
them to do their best work
tl'rough out the coming year.
He spoke of his high hopes for
RMSH as a school and his good
wished for each individual stu
dent. Mr. Columbo closed his
address with a prayer.
Mr. Columbo proceeded to in
troduce the new faculty mem
bers at RMSH for this year-
After the introductions he briefly
explained the problems caused
by the construction taking place
and the new arrangements be
ing made. The students were
then given instructions on where
to report for homerooms and
the temporary locations of some
classes.
For^Jlje first time, with the
Class bf'"^9 leaving first, the
assembly was dismissed.
RMSH Greets
New Teachers
Rocky Mount Senior High
School welcomes seven new
teachers to its faculty this year-
Mrs- Mary T- Dicks who orig
inally came from Whitakers will
be teaching five classes of
chemistry.
Mrs. Magdalene Pace, who
formerly taught at Enloe High
School, has just moved with her
family from Raleigh. She will
teach Junior English.
Miss Anna B. Privott from
Williamston, N- C. will be teach
ing math. She has taken Miss
Sherry Gardner’s place.
From George R. Edwards
Junior High comes Mrs- Leah
L, Wimbetly who will teach one
class of French and English
each-
Washington, N. C- brings Mr
Cecil V- Cherry and his family
to Rocky Mount- Mr- Cherry
will serve with Miss Kitchin in
the Guidance Department at
Senior High this year-
Mr. William A. Rawls, Jr-, a
native to Rocky Mount, will
teach two classes in dramatics.
Also new to Rocky Mount is
Mr. James Stancel. He has just
moved from Ahoskie and he
will teach biology and assist
in coaching.
Blackbird Wishes
To Give Welcome
The Blackbird wishes to ex
tend a harty welcome to the fa
culty and students of RMSH. At
present, many changes are tak
ing place at RMSH, changes
which will ultimately result in a
better place for the attainment
of knowledge. However, during
the time which these changes
will take there will be many
problems and disruptions of
routines.
We would like to ask of Uic
students that they take tliese
problems and disrupions in
stride and to remain calm.
Althoi^h the location of the
rooms and the deployment of
the school may at first seem
strange to those students and fa
culty members who are not ful
ly acquainted with RMSH, we
ffeel that with patience and
time the layout of the school
will soon be as familiar to one
as one’s own rooom-
We feel that there is no finer
school around* than RMSH and
hope that you will find your ten
ure at RMSH an enjoyable and
profitable one- Also, we wish to
extend the services of the Black
bird to all members of the stu
dents and faculty.
Construction At Senior High
Making Excellent Headway
School Calendar
August 30 Teacher-Pupil Orientation
October 8 NCEA Holiday
Nov- 28-Dec. 1 Thanksgiving Holidays
Dec. 21-Jan. 1 Winter Holidu^s
January 21 Firat Semester Ends
January 22 Semester Break
January 23 Second Semester Begins
April 3-9 Spring Holidays
June 4 Commencement
RMSH is now undergoing con
struction of additional class
rooms and other facilities, the
total cost of which will be ap
proximately one million dollars-
So far, ony two rooms have
been completed to a degree that
they may be used as class
rooms. They are being used at
present for ICT and Foreign
Language rooms. Work has al
so been done to air condition the
physics and language depart
ments as well as the new
rooms- The cafeteria has also
undergone remodeling. The old
General Purpose Room has
been joined to the cafeteria area
and is being used as the snack
bar area. This change increases
the seating capacity in the cafe
teria from last year’s 225 to
375.
The two additional buildings
under construction are sched
uled to be completed on or
around July 1. The new building
on Tillery Street will contain
eight new classrooms. There
will also be a modern library,
as well as a new General Pur
pose Room- The plans also in
clude an Audiovisual room- All
rooms in this building, will be
air conditioned-
On the Nash Street side of the
school will be built a new band
room- Also, an art room, a
health classroom, a gymnastics
room, and two new dressing
rooms will be contained in this
building- A student commons
area will be built and air con
ditioned, as will all other
rooms in this building-
The cost of these two build
ings and the remodling of part
of the school cost approximate
ly $750,000.
An additional building, with
an estimated cost of $250,000 is
in the architectural planning
stage. When completed it will
contain six classrooms, two bio
logy laboratories, a chemistry
lab, additional expansion in the
guidaiKe areas, a business de
partment, a home economics
department, and new adminis
trative offices. Plans for the
construction of tlus building will
be completed sometime in tlie
near future.
The construction has been pro
gressing well during the sum
mer and will continue through
out this school year. This puts
an extra burden on tlie entire
student body and f^kfculty, but
the expansion will vastly im
prove the educational opportuni-
Ues at RMHS.
SUPERVISING CONSTRUCTION—Mr. Avenl and Mr. Columbo discuss plans for the new
additions to RMSH. (Photo by KillebrewJ