Amazing as it sounds, there was no 1950 NOR'EASTER. The 1950 Senior Class was included in the 1949
NOR'EASTER. How did this come about? As far as I can ascertain, this is how it went:
For many years the Kansas City school system had
no 8th Grade. There was 7A (8th Grade equivalent) and 7B. This mean that students went from 7th to 9th Grade, or their "Freshman"
year. There were also students known as "Sub-Freshmen" and "Mid-Year Sophomores" if you want a little more confusion.
Then one day, someone came up with the idea of having an 8th
Grade, instead of a 7A and 7B or Sub-Freshman. Not since Einstein came up with his "Theory of Relativity" had anything so
brilliant been announced to the World. it was kind of a, "Why didn't we think of that before" moment.
The 8th Grade was introduced during the 1945-46 school year.
This meant that 1944-45 was the last year that students went from 7th to 9th Grade. Students in 7A (8th) entered 9th
Grade in 1945-46, 10th in 1946-47, 11th in 1947-48 and 12th in 1948-49.
Students in 7B (7th) entered 8th in 1945-46, 9th in 1946-47, 10th in 1947-48, 11th in 1948-49, 12th in
1949-50.
Because of
all this switching around, there were only 80 Seniors who graduated NEHS in 1950. Since the graduating class was so small,
it was deemed too expensive to have a NOR'EASTER for that year. I don't think this was right. I'm sure the generous people
of the NE area would have gladly donated the funds so the kids could have a yearbook. Despite the fact that there was a small
Senior Class, there were still hundreds of Sophomores and Juniors and a lot of school life that could have been expounded
upon.
As crazy as it might seem, the Junior Class of '49
were also shown as the Senior Class of '50 in the 1949 yearbook. Their Junior pictures also became their Senior pictures.
Hence, no 1950 NOR'EASTER.
I
have scanned the yearbook pages appropriate to the Class of '50. In the photos showing Senior future careers, Seniors from
the Class of '49 are also shown. Although the scans came out nice and dark, when I uploaded the photos to the website, they
came out light.
