Issue link: http://latinschool.uberflip.com/i/246730
Background: Latin students relax with some music. "The first year of the new school has been an interesting experience in education. The students, faculty, and parents have cooperated exceedingly well in establishing what promises to be a Chicago institution of high merit. The great enthusiasm for co-education generated by combining the Girls Latin School of Chicago and the Chicago Latin School for Boys continued throughout the year and was continued in the excellent behavior of students, the remarkable energy of the Parents Council, and the constructive concern of the Board of Trustees. Many valuable lessons were learned during the year, and, in the light of experience, continuing progress and growth will take place. We are in a position to select the most promising students from the larger number of applicants; our faculty is professionally minded and will improve the general curriculum and course of study continually; parents are keenly interested in helping to make our social program wider in scope and variety; students are intellectually honest and have seriousness of purpose to a high degree." – Mark Neville, 1953 Alumni Bulletin building. "They really had the most changes," said Dr. Anderson (Andy) Hedberg, who was president of the combined senior class in 1953, in the 1992 Alumni Bulletin. "There wasn't much trauma for us. It was pleasant having the girls there." Gratch, like many of her girls school classmates, also found it to be a welcome adjustment. "Once Latin went coed, going to school every day became a fun experience," she said. "Those of us who had been there forever had a very limited outside life, and the coed format helped change that." The coed classes presented the students with a wider range of extracurricular activities in which to become involved, cheerleading came to Latin, and the casting of female parts in the Glee Club's annual operetta production became much easier. The curriculum was also enriched with new offerings like civics and language arts. The faculty seemed to like the move to coeducation as well. Lucy Brokaw taught Latin language at the girls school beginning in 1936 and continued teaching at the coed school until 1963. She enjoyed the format change. "I was a product of a coed education myself," she said, "but I became very dedicated to the idea of a girls-only education while at Latin. Then when the schools became coed, I was very much in favor of it. A coeducational school is more like a family, and it prepares kids for life after school." Merging the boys and girls schools was an adjustment for faculty as well. A coed classroom. LATI N SCHOOL OF CHI CA GO 55