Issue link: http://latinschool.uberflip.com/i/246730
The Class of 1955. Diana (Karasik) Levin '56 came to Latin as a sophomore the year the schools merged and found, among the girls at least, classmates who had known each other from early childhood and were not accustomed to new faces. "I didn't get here until almost October of sophomore year," said Levin. "Coming in two weeks late as someone new wasn't easy. The girls were cliquey. They had all been friends since kindergarten. I came home every night crying because I didn't have any friends and I wasn't used to not having friends. Then Betsy McNally invited me to her house for dinner... and we had a lot of fun. From that point on apparently I was okay." Despite the initially cool reception, Levin said, she soon came to feel at home and still retains close friendships from her Latin days. According to Levin, between a strict home life and school life, Latin students did not have much freedom in the '50s. Only seniors were allowed to leave school for lunch on a very limited basis, while teachers were highly respected and left little room for misbehavior. "Bud Lovett was scary," Levin said. "He had a moustache and this scary crew cut. You never came to class unprepared, never. But he was a wonderful English teacher, and once you got over being afraid of him, he really did have a soft side." Levin went on to major in English because of Lovett's influence. "I was also terrified of Lucy Brokaw, the Latin "I think one important difference between Latin when I was a student and today is the amount of parent involvement. My mother used to come twice a year to serve lunch in the cafeteria. I don't think my father ever came to school except for graduation. This was school, and my parents had little to do with it. However, there was one time…It was assembly, and it was my junior year of high school. I was sitting next to Mary Leff, my classmate. We were chatting and Mary turned around and looked in the back, and she said: 'Diana! Your parents are here!' I thought 'Oh, oh.' It was early morning on a school day, and they had never really been to school before. So I turned around to look back, and I said: 'Mary! Your parents are here!' I tapped someone on the shoulder in front of me and asked: 'Who else's parents are here?' The answer was nobody's. So, I thought, we're in big trouble. Mary and I sat there holding hands, anxiously waiting for the other shoe to drop. Well, it turned out Cum Laude, which was quite prestigious, had just come to the school, and it was the first induction. Two juniors and a group of seniors were chosen that day. Mary and I were the juniors. My father didn't come back to the school again until graduation." – Diana Karasik Levin '56 Background: A dance. LATI N SCHOOL OF CHI CA GO 57