THE GRYPHON
Pdl}Usbed by the Journalism Oass of Rocky Mount Senior High Sdiool
VOLUME m. No. 6
ROCKY MOUNT, N. C,
FRIDAY, JANUARY 21. 1972
im
Class Officers Elected By S. O.
For Second Semester Positions
NEWLY ELECTED CLASS OFFICERS
Advisory Couucil Gathers
To Hear Student Matters
Members of the Student Ad
visory Council, whlchserves as
a link between students and ad
ministrators, met for the first
time with Dr. Ben F. Currin
Wednesday, January 7, in the
Administrative Office.
The Student Advisory Coun
cil is composed of students from
RMSH, Parker, R. M. Wilson,
and Edwards. Students repre
senting RMSH are Richard Bul-
hick, Steve Braswell, Ruble
Gibson, Wayne Hodges, Rahn
Barnes, Tim Chapman, Gerald
Costen, Theresa Vivo, Wadye
Morton, and Tony Brabliam,
Steve Braswell was elected
chairman and Ruble Gibson se
cretary of the Council by the
members of the CouncIL
The purpose of the Student
Advisory Council Is to serve
as a link between students and
administrators and to give stu
dents a desired say-so about
school matters.
Approximately three pro
blems concerning RMSH stu
dents were discussed. One
question was why Latin is not
offered in the curriculum. This
subject is not offered mainly
because of lack of popularity.
Another problem concerned the
lunch room and the last one con
cerned individualized educa
tion. The junior high school
students also presented some
Graduate Named
Fellow At UNC
Valerie Batts, a former
RMSH student who Is presently
a sophomore of UNC-G, was re
cently chosen a North Carolina
FeUow along with fourteen other
N.C. sophomores.
Miss Batts, a highly qua-
Ufied student for this award,
is the daughter of RMSH As
sociate Principal Batts and his
wife.
The North Carolina Fellows
Programs are designed to help
develop future leadership for
business, governmental, pro
fessional, and educational or
ganizations. These programs
are constantly searching for
new methods to carry out their
purposes, through a program
concerned with , research and
application. The Fellows Pro
gram members attend seminars
and guidance sessions during
school, and In the summer they
learn from established leaders
of various fields.
problems concerning them.
Two representatives from
each class were elected to serve
on the Student Advisory CouncIL
Also serving on the Council at
this time are the president of
the S.R.A., co-chairman of the
Human Relations Committee,
and Steve Braswell, who sug
gested the Council.
Semester Schedule
January 25 — Holiday for
all students,
March 4 — SAT, Achieve
ment tests.
March 30-Aprll 4 — Eas
ter holidays.
A.pril 15 “ SAT only.
May 6 — Achievement tests
only,
June 5 ~ Graduation.
Senior, Junior, and Sopho
more class officers for the
second semester were elect
ed by their classes Immediate
ly before the Christmas holi
days at RMSH.
Newly elected Senior class
officers for second semester
are president, Richard New
man; vice - president, Gary
Knight; secretary, Denise Mor
gan; and treasurer, TojtlClark.
These officers will be con
cerned primarily with the gra
duation plans of the Senior
class.
Junior officers for the se
cond semester are president,
Cavaretta Martin; vice-presi
dent, Chris Weatherly; secre
tary, Bruce Anderson; and trea
surer, Ruth Walker. The main
project of the Junior class will
be the RMSH Junior-Senior
Prom for 1972.
Second semester Sophomore
officers for 1972 are presi
dent, Mike Knight; vice-pre
sident, Chip Pearsall; secre
tary, Veronica Nelson; and
treasurer. Jack Liles.
Self-Nominated Candidates
All candidates who ran for the
offices of the three classes
were self-nominated, in accor
dance with the recent SRA rul
ing which abolished the no
mination committee of RMSH.
All candidates were required to
list their qualifications by past
experiences, and their personal
qualifications, along with state
ments Indicating a desire to
serve.
Elections Day
Elections Day at RMSH was
Tuesday, December 16. Anne
Watkins, co-chairman of the
Elections Committee, stated
“The turnout of voters was
about what we had expected; but
we really had hoped for more
voters.” Of the 480 Seniors who
are registered to vote, 235 or
fifty percent of those regis
tered voted In class elections.
Of the 472 registered Juniors,
235 or fifty percent of those
registered voted in the elec
tions. Of the 460 registered
Sophomores, 245 voted, which Is
fifty-three percent of those So
phomores registered to vote.
Exam Period Progresses
With Sr. Tests Optional
The first semester exam pe
riod at RMSH, occurring Thurs
day, January 20, through Mon
day, January 24, contains one
basic change — only those
seniors desiring to take exams
will do so this year.
This change, which stems
from a decision made by the
principals of RMSH, states that
RMSH Seniors have an option as
to whether they will take exams
or not. K a Senior decides not
to take an exam, his three six-
weeks grades will be averaged
to determine his final semester
grade in a subject. This new
ruling is a senior privilege only;
It does not include sophomores
and Juniors, who must take each
required exam.
Exams for all three sche
duled days will meet in the
morning from 8:30 tol0:30,and
from 11:00 a.m. to 1 p.m. Stu
dents will have to remain in
classes for a minimum of one
hour. First and second period
classes will meet Thursday,
third and fourth period class
es will meet Friday, and fifth
and sixth period classes taking
exams will meet Monday.
All students will have a holi
day "Hiesday, January 25.
Classes will resume Wed
nesday, January 26, beginning
the second semester of 1971-
72 at RMSH,
UNC Project Deals With Education
By William Friday, President
University of North Carolina
A special research project on
your University’s Greensboro
campus has shown that small
children who are engaged in a
group activity tend to maintain a
calmer level of behavior when
they are surrounded by white
wails than when they are sur
rounded by colored walls.
The study was conducted by
Mrs. Joyce Hasell Webb of
Kernersville, who planned the
project and who now is teaching
in the Department of Home Eco
nomics at Eastern Michigan Uni
versity .
In the project, two groups of
children were tested as they
participated in a IS-minute
“story hour” each day for 15
days. One group attended in an
all-white setting, while the
second group assembled for the
period in a colored setting.
Mrs. Webb, an interior design
graduate student, was intrigued
by the idea that environmental
color might affect human be
havior.
Each of the two groups was
tested for inattention, disruptive
activity and general noisiness.
On all three tests the groups in
the colored setting proved to be
generally more restless than the
group in the white setting.
Twenty-three children from
the UNC-G Nursery School par
ticipated in the special story
hours. The room involved was
lined for each period with white
polyurethane panels, which were
covered with painted paper for
the sessions with the experimen
tal group.
Mrs. Webb outlined the test
results:
—“The group surrounded by
white was less distracted and
better able to devote its atten
tion to the structured group ses
sion than was the group sur
rounded by the colored walls.”
—There were more vocal in
terruptions in the “colored
walls” group than in the “white
walls” group.
-Children in the “colored
walls” group engaged in more
disruptive behavior and were
generally less attentive to the
structured activity than was true
of those in the control group.
—The “colored walls” group
was generally noisier than the
“white walls” group.
“Various wall colors used in
the experiment did have meas
urably different effects on the
behavior of the children in the
'colored walls’ group,” Mrs.
Webb found.
The colors dark blue, red and
pink seemed to cause the group
“to pay less attention, while the
light blue, dots and stripes
caused more attention,” she re
ported.
Inattentive activity was most
common when walls were pink
and least common when the
walls were light blue.
To most of us, the color of a
classroom’s walls might seem un
important and unrelated to the
learning process. Fortunately, re
searchers such as Mrs. Webb do
not have such unquestioning
attitudes.
S. O. OFFICERS