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Westbury High School is a secondary school located in Brays Oaks,〔"(Brays Oaks District )." Brays Oaks. Retrieved on October 23, 2011.〕 of Southwest Houston, Texas, near the Westbury neighborhood. It has grades 9 through 12, and is part of the Houston Independent School District. As of 2015 the principal is Susan Monaghan. In addition to its academic programs it has automotive technology, health science, and business career programs.〔Foster, Robin. "(HISD speeds up timetable for renovation of Westbury )" ((Archive )). ''Houston Chronicle''. Retrieved on November 21, 2015.〕 == History == Westbury High School opened its doors for the first time in the fall of 1961. The three-story building with its main entrance facing Gasmer Street housed the administrative offices, classrooms, a cafeteria, an auditorium, library and a gym. The grounds were bare, no trees or grass greeted the first classes on opening day. To the right of the building, at the corner of Chimney Rock and Gasmer Streets, stood “The Company Store,” a hardware store. Westbury’s 1961 enrollment consisted of 813 students - seniors, juniors, sophomores coming from Bellaire, Lamar, and San Jacinto High Schools, and freshmen coming from Johnston Jr High School. After the first year, there would not be a freshman class until the late 70’s. Of that first year’s class, 58 seniors received their diplomas in the Westbury High School auditorium.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.friendswhs.org/History.html )〕 Shading the school was the water tower that served the Westbury neighborhood. Mary Beth Kulp and Donna Harkness, the editors of the first yearbook, imagined the water tower as a silent citadel watching over the students, teachers, and administrators as they busied themselves with the task of transferring from one generation to the next the culture of the western world. They imagined the water tower thinking as it looked down on the school. “I, the majestic water tower beside it, hear its name and feel a part of it.” The metaphor of the water tower as citadel became the title of Westbury’s yearbook. The students became the “Westbury Rebels”. Mr. W. I. “Jim” Burns was Westbury’s first principal. A lieutenant colonel in the Army Air Corps during World War II, Mr. Burns had taught chemistry at San Jacinto and Lamar High Schools and had opened Bellaire High School as assistant principal. The principal of Bellaire, Mr. Harland Andrews, complained that all of his good teachers wanted to transfer to Westbury so they could work under Mr. Burns. Many of the first staff members did, indeed, follow Mr. Burns from Bellaire High School. Among them were Westbury’s first assistant principal, Mr. Kenneth Gupton, and the dean, Mrs. Rivers Lodge. Mrs. Lodge became assistant principal in 1970. There were 73 teachers that first year. The curriculum included not only the academic courses—math, science, English and foreign language; but also the fine arts—music and art, speech, drama, journalism, home economics; the commercial subjects---typing, business machines, and business law; the industrial arts—mechanical drawing—architectural drawing, woodshop and metal shop; drivers education, physical education and the National Defense Cadet Corps.” In the early 1960s Westbury had no air conditioning, just fans. “Temporary” classroom buildings were brought in. As the years passed, trees were planted; the grass grew, and Westbury’s student body flourished. Air conditioning was installed in the late 1960s and in the early 1970s, a three-story classroom wing was added to the east side of the school building to accommodate the growth. The “Company Store” was purchased by the Houston Independent School District (HISD) and was converted to the Oceanography/Living Resource Center to provide oceanography education and biological material for the district’s science classes. Later the oceanography was phased out and it became the Living Resource Center (known affectionately as the “Frog Farm” around Westbury). Mr. LeRoy Hardy, the center’s director, was one of the original science teachers at Westbury. Mr. W. L. Burns died of a heart attack in the summer of 1966. Mr. John Brandstetter served as the interim principal until Mr. Kenneth Gupton was appointed principal in 1967. In memory of Mr. Burns, Westbury established the W. L. Burns Award to honor academic excellence. Each May the students deemed best by each department are honored in an impressive formal assembly. Award winners receive the distinctive W.L. Burns Award trophy, modeled from the permanent trophy situated in the foyer outside the auditorium. The symbolism of the trophy “darkness into light...ignorance into learning...” and the noble words of its inscription, “Esse quam videre,” meaning “to be, rather than to seem” emphasize the essence of Westbury academic achievement. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Westbury High School (Houston, Texas)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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