The Pantagraph from Bloomington, Illinois • A11

The Sunda Oct ber 22, 201 7 A11 1 BILL KEMP After World War II, Illinois State Normal University put out the welcome mat for returning soldiers and sailors looking to reintegrate into civilian life. By the fall of 1945, the war had come to a close with Victory over Japan (V-J) Day, Sept. 2. Yet preparations for the return of veterans were well underway, as many from Europe and elsewhere were already discharged and either back home or in the process of returning stateside. As a result, during the 1945-1946 academic year, ISNU offered a new student organization, a federally funded counseling center, a faculty committee on veterans, and even a campus-based high school for veterans who, due to the war, were unable to finish their secondary education.

At this time, ISNU was still a school, meaning the education of teachers was still its primary mission. It was thought that teaching was an ideal postwar profession for many veterans who, if nothing else, returned from war-torn Europe and the Pacific instilled with leadership skills, discipline, motivation and other personal and social proficiencies translatable in theory at least to the classroom. During the 1945-1946 school year, Walter V. Brown, state director of education and rehabilitation, addressed the Golden Eagles, the newly established student organization at ISNU. are preparing for a much-needed profession, and the Administration is pleased to have so many veterans enrolled at the oldest state teachers college in he told the group.

Joe Cogdal, legendary basketball and track and field coach, served as the Golden faculty sponsor. Established in the spring of 1945, the Guidance and Counseling Center on the ISNU campus served the physical and emotional needs of able-bodied and disabled veterans. It was one of a several such centers in the state, all operating under the direction of the Edward Hines Jr. Veterans Administration Hospital outside of Chicago. The ISNU center covered a 15-county area, which reached as far north as Stark and Marshall counties, and as far south as Christian County.

The Guidance and Counseling Center was first located on the second floor of Cook Hall, but was later moved to a recently vacated U.S. Navy infirmary on the 300 block of West Mulberry Street. The infirmary had been part of a campus-based naval training program. ISNU faculty from the special education and psychology departments helped sta the center. Disabled veterans were encouraged to seek vocational training, with radio, refrigeration, business administration and auto mechanics said to be the four most popular occupational tracks.

Many of these veterans then had the option to continue their education at a college or university, a business or trade school, or through an apprenticeship in the trades. When it closed in the spring of 1947, the Guidance and Counseling Center had tested or counseled more than 800 veterans. The campus-based school, which operated from September 1945 to June 1947, offered servicemen and women a chance to complete their high school education interrupted by wartime service. Dr. Victor M.

Houston, principal of University High, acted as the new administrative head. ISNU faculty members serving as tutors included Dr. Nell Waldron, professor of social science (see accompanying photograph), and C.L. Cross and Leon Smith, both professors of physical science. The school, it was said, offered veterans the to complete high school work without actually reenrolling in high Most of the instruction was one- on-one, on an tutorial though students did meet in small groups as necessary.

Under the Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the GI Bill, veterans were only responsible for the cost of their books and room and board. Students at this school worked at their own speed, and could choose one of two courses of study. Upon attaining knowledge of the fundamentals of the some students opted to take a subject-specific test to earn credit for that course, and after passing a predetermined number of courses they received their diploma. A more popular path to graduation involved General Educational Development (GED) tests, which came about during WWII for this specific purpose. In late 1942, the Armed Forces Institute called upon the American Council on Education to develop a series of examinations to measure academic aptitude at the high school level (in the subjects of reading, writing, social studies, science and mathematics), so returning soldiers and sailors whose education was cut short by the war could more quickly and easily earn a high school diploma.

Today, GED can also stand for General Equivalency Development or General Equivalency Diploma. Graduates of the school also had the choice to receive their diploma through University High or from their school back home. Not surprisingly, most out-of-towners stayed true to their roots and preferred the sheepskin coming from their hometown high school. And many of those who received high school diplomas through this program continued their education. Fifteen of the 18 students who gr aduated in late January 1946, for instance, promptly enrolled at ISNU.

Fifteen veterans, ranging in age from 20 to 45 years old, earned high school diplomas in late May 1946. This graduating class included Amy Wiggers of Bloomington, the first woman to graduate. Wiggers participated in the May 31 University High commencement ceremony at Capen Auditorium. Forty-five year old Donald G. Joda, on the other hand, received his diploma from Fairbury High School in Livingston County.

Because veterans studied at their own pace, some proceeded cautiously, while others raced through the subject matter at breakneck speed. No one, though, likely beat Jay Dawson record pace. 2 years of school in 2 marveled The Pantagraph in early April 1946. Before the war, Carpenter completed two years at Empire Township High School in LeRoy. He then served six years in the U.S.

Army, rising to the rank of captain as an intelligence officer with the 42nd Division in Europe. After his discharge on March 6, 1946, Carpenter returned to McLean County (his parents were now living in Normal), and enrolled in the school. After two days of classes, he announced he was ready to take the GED tests and qualify for a high school diploma. And sure enough, he passed with relative ease. On April 6, one month after his discharge, Carpenter received a diploma from his old school, Empire Township High.

In August 1946, 23 students received diplomas from the school at ISNU. Graduates included Bette Cleinmark and Alvin Schad, both of Bloomington, and 22-year-old identical twins David and John Haenni of Staunton, Ill. There were also graduates from a scattering of Central Illinois communities, including Clinton, Minier, Minonk, Odell, Shirley, Streator and Washington. In its nearly two years of existence, 186 men and women enrolled in the school, with more than 120 earning general equivalency diplomas. ill emp is the librarian at the McLean ount Museum of History in loomin gton.

He can be reached at A PAGE FROM OUR PAST ISNU welcomed veterans after WWII COURTESY OF THE MCLEAN COUNTY MUSEUM OF HISTORY In early ovember 1945, students enrolled in the high school at Illinois State ormal niversity hold their weekly onference with ell aldron, IS nu pr ofessor of social science. he eterans are, left to right: Frank Leben, Virgil Gaffney and Lee hodus. BATH TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) The IRS is asking a wounded veteran from Michigan to pay $62,000 in income taxes on the federal cancellation of his student loans. First Lt.

Will Milzarski served two tours in Afghanistan that left him with a traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress dis order and hearing loss. The federal government canceled $223,000 in student loan debt after deeming him totally and permanently disabled. The 47-year-old veteran, who said the debt is largely attributed to his law degree, told the Lansing State Journal that the notice surprised him. After loans canceled, vet asked to pay $62K in tax i a i i i 1 1 a 1 0 7 a 1 0 3 0 9 8 2 1 9 2 2 4 i a Walleye od TunaCasserole 800-448-0572 www.peoriachartertravel.com PEORIACHARTER TRAVEL Makeyourreservationstoday! October26 November1 Travel Presentation DestinationsdiscussedatthesepresentationsincludeRhineRiver Playandmore!.