News, Chronicling School Year Mementos, LaSalle Parish, La. GRASS ROOTS AND COCKLE BURRS- By Jack Morgan Willis jbucktwo@hotmail.com Submitted by: Pat Ezell, PatEzell@worldnet.att.net From the Jena Times - Olla Tullos Signal, Wed., May, 2001 Thank You to Jack Willis and The Times -Signal for allowing the following to be added to the Archives. ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** Grass Roots and Cockle Burrs Chronicling School Year Mementos By Jack Morgan Willis As one grows older the remembrances garnered in the learning environment of early, formative years of one's life began to fade dramatically with each passing year. There is and should be rituals to maintain and conserve these often cherished memories, which constitute roughly sixteen percent of the average human's life span. And that being the case, a number of preservation modes have been improvised to chronicle highlights of any given school year. Among those is the school yearbook and school newspaper. Each publication usually a student with a faculty sponsors for guidance and input. Some students utilized these publishing experiences garnered in high school to find their niche in life, and go on to college to major in journalism for a lifetime career. One of the distinct advantages of a large school plant and large student population is the many faceted educational advantages, which can be offered in such surroundings; as opposed to the limitations found in small one and two room rural schools. Around the turn of the 20th century, should a person reared in a rural setting aspire to go on to a higher educational calling he was often the subject of much ridicule and harassment by other classmates Such was the case in Nebo as chronicled by the revered historian Eli W. Plummer. In one of Mr. Plummer's reminisces, he relates a tale of marvelous personal overcoming. "I finished my morning chores and set off barefooted to walk to Nebo School some four miles. I had an air of expectancy as I felt the cool damp earth squiggle between the toes of my bare feet. I was the first to arrive at the school that Monday morning and noticed a big poster had been tacked up on the front door of the school over the weekend. Below the headlines JENA SEMINARY, CATAHOULA HIGH SCHOOL was an impressive picture of stately two-story building, surrounded by spreading oaks, the seat of an institution of higher learning. " As he continued to gaze in wonderment at the picture, he began thinking, that he too, might get to enter the Seminary. His reverie was suddenly interrupted. A group of his classmates had arrived on the schoolyard and were shouting, "C'mon an play one-eyed cat, you ain't never goin' to that there Seminary! You wouldn't know what to do if'n you got there!" The highest calling any of these ruffians ever had was to either become a steamboat Captain, or a bull puncher. More than likely though, they would end up as "flatheads" for a timber company or a commercial fisherman or waterfowl hunter. Finally when he could endure their taunts no longer young Eli shouted, ""Some day I'm goin' to be principal of that there Seminary!" This brought on another round of jeers and guffaws, and that day he acquired the nickname of "Perfessor". Just 20 years later that boyhood dream, one that young Eli Plummer never lost sight of, was fulfilled; he became principal of Jena High School in 1920. During the next 11 years, before clandestine political maneuvering ousted him from that position, he signed high school diplomas earned by sons and daughters of the very boys who had jeered and ridiculed him. During this time he served as faculty advisor to the staff of the high school newspaper, The Giant Tribe. The Giant Tribe's first publication date was May 21,1924. It joined a sister publication; the high school yearbook named The Hummer. The newspaper of that day was the equivalent of today's JHS Campus Cruiser. For whatever reasons, the school building, which was only 12 years old, had apparently fallen into a state of neglect and disrepair. The new publication felt the need to editorialize about what they considered deplorable circumstances, and did so in this issue of the Giant Tribe making its bow to the public. You must remember the contents of the four columns, eight pages weekly was also published in The Jena Times. They said," in spite of the deplorable physical condition of Jena High School's building (the High School would not get their own frame building and gymnasium until 1930) and equipment, and the uncertainty of financial support, she came out victorious in all she attempted. Even though she seemed to have once been forsaken and was almost consigned to the rubbish heap, she triumphantly survives and her victorious banners float high above the rugged waves of despair, literally astounding those who sincerely believed that JHS was fast sinking into oblivion. "Why is it," someone asked, "that Jena High is always victorious? How does she always avoid disaster?" "The answer is simple. By sticking to her guns, by steering clear of all factionalism, by pulling together with a determination to win that was so strong, the idea of losing never gained a foothold. The splendid school spirit and loyalty of the student body toward their Alma Mater cannot alone make Jena High School survive. It must have adequate buildings, materials and equipment, an adequate number of teachers and financial support as well." This pertinence of this editorial penned by the newspaper staff in 1924 has not diminished with time. It still holds true today Next week: High school News