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Hackensack History / Re: Holy Trinity School 1950's
« on: April 18, 2016, 10:53:07 AM »
My comments are in response to several questions asked by prospectgirl and others in earlier threads on this site about Holy Trinity School.
I attended HTS from grades 7 through 9 in the original old building during the early-1950s. Sister Alice was the Mother Superior. My teachers were Sister Margaret for 7th grade, Sister Juliana for 8th grade, and I had a religion class from Sister Jude in 9th grade. Sisters Margaret and Jude were thin, but Sister Juliana was quite heavy (300 lbs.?). You could almost always tell when she was coming down the hallway because the floorboards would creak beneath her.
All of these sisters were quite strict in the classroom. Sister Juliana accepted no nonsense and often maintained discipline among the boys by slapping them hard about the face and head if they misbehaved. Even Sister Margaret was not beyond an occasional rap across the knuckles with her blackboard pointer.
The thing I remember most about Sister Margaret was her habit of lining up all the students around the perimeter of the classroom and then quizzing each person about homework assignments. Homework often involved going to the Johnson Public Library to look up authors of famous quotations. If you answered her questions correctly, you moved up in line to replace those who answered incorrectly. If you actually made it to #1, then you got rewarded by being allowed to wear a special gold lapel pin. Although this was supposed to be a motivational tool for the students, I’m sure it often caused kids at the back of the line to feel embarrassed, and if you were absent or late coming to class you were automatically sent to the back of the line.
Although 9th grade was technically a part of the high school, students did not go to multiple classrooms for their subjects. Instead, 9th graders were all required to take the same subjects in one classroom and the various teachers would come by at different times during the day. Girls all sat together on the left side of the room by the door and boys sat on the right side by the windows. Sister Jude taught religion and she would always open the windows when she arrived, even on the coldest days in winter. Some of my other teachers were Mr. Cafasso for algebra, Mr. Campanella for English, and Mr. Conlin for Latin (yes, believe it or not, taking Latin was a requirement at that time).
After 9th grade, I transferred to HHS and completed my high school education there, but I still have fond memories of my days at HTS. After all these years, it is sometimes strange what you remember from your school years. One of my most vivid memories at HTS is of a little boy who would sometimes come by on his tricycle to watch students during our lunch hour. He was said to have cerebral palsy, and he had some difficulty controlling his neck muscles. I tried to speak with him on a couple of occasions but he would never reply and would just look wistfully at all of the activity going on. I wonder if anyone else remembers this very special little boy.
I attended HTS from grades 7 through 9 in the original old building during the early-1950s. Sister Alice was the Mother Superior. My teachers were Sister Margaret for 7th grade, Sister Juliana for 8th grade, and I had a religion class from Sister Jude in 9th grade. Sisters Margaret and Jude were thin, but Sister Juliana was quite heavy (300 lbs.?). You could almost always tell when she was coming down the hallway because the floorboards would creak beneath her.
All of these sisters were quite strict in the classroom. Sister Juliana accepted no nonsense and often maintained discipline among the boys by slapping them hard about the face and head if they misbehaved. Even Sister Margaret was not beyond an occasional rap across the knuckles with her blackboard pointer.
The thing I remember most about Sister Margaret was her habit of lining up all the students around the perimeter of the classroom and then quizzing each person about homework assignments. Homework often involved going to the Johnson Public Library to look up authors of famous quotations. If you answered her questions correctly, you moved up in line to replace those who answered incorrectly. If you actually made it to #1, then you got rewarded by being allowed to wear a special gold lapel pin. Although this was supposed to be a motivational tool for the students, I’m sure it often caused kids at the back of the line to feel embarrassed, and if you were absent or late coming to class you were automatically sent to the back of the line.
Although 9th grade was technically a part of the high school, students did not go to multiple classrooms for their subjects. Instead, 9th graders were all required to take the same subjects in one classroom and the various teachers would come by at different times during the day. Girls all sat together on the left side of the room by the door and boys sat on the right side by the windows. Sister Jude taught religion and she would always open the windows when she arrived, even on the coldest days in winter. Some of my other teachers were Mr. Cafasso for algebra, Mr. Campanella for English, and Mr. Conlin for Latin (yes, believe it or not, taking Latin was a requirement at that time).
After 9th grade, I transferred to HHS and completed my high school education there, but I still have fond memories of my days at HTS. After all these years, it is sometimes strange what you remember from your school years. One of my most vivid memories at HTS is of a little boy who would sometimes come by on his tricycle to watch students during our lunch hour. He was said to have cerebral palsy, and he had some difficulty controlling his neck muscles. I tried to speak with him on a couple of occasions but he would never reply and would just look wistfully at all of the activity going on. I wonder if anyone else remembers this very special little boy.
