Tne_Rambler_1948-12-22

              THE RAMB
Vo. XIX, No. 5 Long Island Agricultural and Technical Institute—Farmingdale, N. Y. December 22, 1948
N. A. G. Party
On Tuesday night, of November
23, at approximately 7:40, there
could be seen a long line of cars
streaming off the campus. They
were bound for Eddie and Elsie's
Grove, in North Bellmore, to a
party sponsored by the Junior
N. A. G., to which any and every-one
was invited. After almost
losing their way, the first cars
started arriving at about 8 o'clock.
Besides having a large open pic-nic
area, the grove had quite .1
nice indoor hall, where the party
took place. The tables and chairs
were set along three walls with
the dance floor in the center, and
the juke box over to one sid^
near a large lobby.
As the crowd was getting set-tled
at their tables, the soda was
rushed in from the freezer in the
lobby. A few students then brought
in the hot dogs from the outer
kitchen, where a couple of N.A.G.
members were doing the cooking.
However, they later gave up their
job to the a freshman Aggie wh^
did a swell job . . . of burning.
Because of this a few students
took it upon themselves to try
boiling the "dogs", which turned
out to be quite tasty. Meanwhile
the dancing had started and the
party was well under way.
Due to the odd way in which
the room was layed out, George
had some trouble in deciding upon
the proper angles at which to
photograph. Despite this, he did
manage to get a few good pic-tures
to record this affair.
Many thanks are in order for
Mary Cotie, Gordon White, Galen
Smith and John Barr, the com-mittee
that made this successful
get together possible.
Anniversary Dinner
On Saturday, November 20, the Agricultural students, the Institute
Faculty, and the Alumni Association held an Anniversary Dinner for
Director Knapp in Knapp Hall's Dining Room. Chris Rissmeyer and
Elsa Nillson, who were in charge of decorations, did an unusually fine
job. Mr. Blaisdell served a man-sized roast beef dinner that did justice
to the occasion.
The whole affair was a surprise to the Director. Invited out to
dinner that evening, he was called at his host's home and told that
a "riot" had broken out in Knapp Hall, where not only the students
and faculty were assembled, but also members of Director Knapp's
family. He admitted that, "for the first time in 25 years," he did
not know what had been going on.
After dinner, brief presentation speeches were made, and gifts
presented to Director Knapp. Mr. Franke, speaking for the faculty,
presented a Hamiltoij watch to the Director. They both spoke of the
noteworthy growth The Institute has experienced during the last Tn
years. Cal Lynk, speaking for the Senior Class, next presented to
Director Knapp a gold penknife to match the watch. Mr. S. Sumner
Cook, president of the Alumni Association, had as their gift a pair of
bookends, on which was carved the figure of Abraham Lincoln.
Numerous pictures were taken to preserve the occasion. Following
the banquet, a receiving line was formed to congratulate the Director.
(Christmas S^^^son
The first snowfall of the season
has been percipitated to remind
us of the Christmas season which
we will celebrate by one fine,
week-long vacation.
The holiday season is manifested
throughout the town of Farming-dale.
The merchant's windows
have their respective Santa Clauses.
The town also has helped to pro-vide
the atmosphere. You certain-ly
can't miss the glaring lights
each evening on Main Street. I
must say, though, that they're i
beautiful spectacle. St. Nick has
also been provided by the town,
giving Christmas greetings and
consultations to all the youngsters.
Highway and
Bridge Interview
Once again the Institute heads
have taken a step forward In
preparing the student with j.
promising future. This time the
credit goes to the Highway and
Bridge Department. They have
succeeded in obtaining regular
temporary appointments for the
seniors of the Highway and Bridge
course, with the State Highway
Department whose headquarters
are in Babylon. They are working
in the capacity of Jr. Engineering
Aides with survey parties, or in
the office doing calculations or
work concerning materials. The
boys are getting the regular sal-ary
which comes to $2047 per year.
Faculty Fa(!ts
More years ago then he wouli
like to admit, Mr. Leon M. Ste-phens
was born in Brooklyn, Pa.
He was one of three childre.i,
the other two being a brother
and a sister. After graduating
from Brooklyn High School, he
tiiught in the district high school
for two years.
He then went to Keuka Insti-tute,
which was coed at the tim?.
It was here that he met his wif2
and they were married in 1909.
Their family consists of three
children and three grandchildren.
From Keuka Prep School, he
went to Penn State, and it is was
there he got his degree. For the
next six years he had a hardware
business in Brooklyn. Until 1918
he was manager for the Brooklyn
Orchid Association. Then he came
to Albion, New York to teach
vocational agriculture at the town
high school for seven years.
In 1925 he came to L. I. A. T. I
Here he teaches Farm Manage-ment
and serves as head of the
Agronomy Department. He Uvea
in Farmingdale and says all his
interests are here.
This is the first time anything like
this has been tried at the Institute
and Is meeting with great success.
There are three advantages to
this program and all are for the
student. First of all he gains
valuable practical experience in his
chosen field. Second, he can
gain experience he can use later
on In applying for a job, and
third, he has an "In" with the
State Department and Its proce-dures.
If he chooses to work for
the State Highway Department ha
will have three months seniority.
Working with the State Highway
Department has shown not only
the senior In that particular course
but all of us the practicalness of
of the courses we get here. The
Highway and Bridge Department
under the heads of Mr. Walte and
Mr. Van Slnderan hope to do this
again with next year's seniors.
Grange Contest
The annual Grange Speaking
contest at the Agricultural divi-sion
of the L.I.A. and T. Institute,
was held during the assembly pro-gram
on Friday, Nov. 19, 1948. The
six contestants who had been pre-viously
selected from a field of
17 tryout candidates, were: Clif-ford
Crosby, James Geddes. John
Johnson, Foster Hooke, Dave Hu>)-
bard and Charles Vanderveer.
After much consideration tha
judges selected Charles Vanderveer
as the winner. His topic was
"Mechanization, Slow but Sure".
The winner will now go to the
annual New York State Grange
meeting, to be held at Lake
Placid during December 15, 16 and
17th. At this time Mr Vander-veer
will represent the L. I. A.
and T. Institute at the meeting:
and compete with other contes-tants
from agricultural schools in
New York, In the State Grange
Speaking Contest. During the
meeting Mr. Vanderveer will also
take part In conference activities
along with fellow contestants.
Mr. Vanderveer's topic for this
State Grange Contest will be, "The
Farmer Takes the Long View."
We all wish "Chuck" the best of
luck and hope to see him return
with another first prize.