John Wright,’60, Using an East High Lathe
East High School has a significant history in vocational and industrial arts training. The school’s long commitment to vocational education is evident through the addition of vocational buildings in 1931 and 1952. From 1952 to 1968, approximately 500-700 students annually enrolled in the vocational courses offered at East. This high enrollment reflects the popularity and demand for vocational education during that time.
Industry continued to boom long after the end of World War II, as U.S. workers and entrepreneurs helped build the world’s largest economy. Coordinating its programs with the needs of local business and manufacturing companies, East High’s Industrial Arts Department prepared students for employment, hobbies, or do-it-yourself projects. (Below, Rodney Pierce, ’60, sharpens a file in General Metals class.)
Some students would go immediately into good-paying jobs, often in the trades, that helped develop America’s middle class. Skilled workers were needed to construct homes, cars, and all manner of consumer goods for all those Baby Boom families. Not infrequently, students dropped out of high school and used their vocational and technical skills to secure immediate employment in the workforce. Other vocational students kept open the option of going to college as they took courses to prepare them for careers in engineering or architecture.
By 1960, East High’s Industrial Arts Department employed 20 experienced and highly skilled faculty members. Only English had more faculty. Throughout its history, the department’s faculty members were involved in inventions and innovations, often in collaboration with local companies. East’s graduates maintained long-term relationships with them for mentoring and for entrepreneurial ventures.
The 1960 Echoes yearbook, the source of the photos in this story, 
explains that seniors with faculty approval could go to school at East half-time for coursework and then to work in a local business for other half of the day. This work experience helped them decide whether the field was right for them, increased their value as employees, and could enhance their eligibility for advanced programs in a technical school or in college. During the 1959-60 school year, 37 of our classmates were employed part-time in fields such as auto mechanics, printing, machine shops, wood-working, electricity and drafting. (Above, Apprentice Engineer Jerry Ryan, ’60, was employed in drafting by Jamison Engineering in Wichita.)
Like East’s academic departments, Industrial Arts 
Education competed energetically in contests at the local, state, and national levels. Showcases in East’s hallways displayed prize-winners and other outstanding examples of student work in metals, mechanical drawing, wood-working, and many more fields. (At right, Rick Sidener, ’61, won $100 and a trip to New York for Outstanding Achievement at Ford Motor Company’s Industrial Arts and Student Craftsmen’s Fair.)
What about career preparation opportunities for female students? In the late 1950’s, young women were not encouraged to prepare for careers in industry, despite the obvious evidence of female competence in manufacturing during World War II. Many girls in the Class of 1960 took courses in the Business Department and, like boys in the trades, took their excellent training directly into the workforce. Other young women took courses in what were called “Home Arts” such as cooking and sewing, which prepared them for jobs as well as for home-making.
In 1968, the Vocational Technical Center of the Wichita Area Vocational-Technical School was established on the East High campus. Over the years, this center underwent transformations and eventually became Wichita Area Technical College (WSU Tech). WSU Tech now offers a wide range of college degree and certificate programs in various fields, including aviation, healthcare, manufacturing, general education, business, and design. WSU Tech, which has multiple campuses, located one of its anchor campuses, called the Grove Campus, behind East High on the site of the original Voc-Ed Department buildings.
This close proximity between WSU Tech and the high school provides East’s students today with convenient access to extensive vocational and technical education opportunities in well-equipped laboratories and workshops. A comprehensive Career and Technical Education program allows East High students to integrate technical education at WSU Tech with their high school degree studies. An Aeronautics class first launched at East in 1959 has evolved into a leading career specialty degree at WSU Tech. (Below, Bob Wallick and Terry Lee Calvin, both ’60, examine a rocket in Aeronautics class.)
Editor’s Note: If you participated in East’s Industrial Arts programs, please share your story with Fred Elder at 608-238-1625 or elder@engr.wisc.edu.
