SOUTH DAKOTA PTA
MRS. FLOYD W. NELSON, Sioux Falls, Correspondent

Annual PTA Convention—Rapid City

Attendance of official delegates to the 16th
annual state convention of the PTA at Rapid
City, Oct. 16-18, totalled 226. Thirty-one state
officers were present. Sioux Falls was chosen for
place of the 1936 meeting.

Resolutions

Resolutions adopted by the PTA at the closing
business session of the convention included the
following subjects: the extension of kindergartens;
the support of the statewide campaign for safer
auto driving; the support of legislation against
advertisements of intoxicating liquors; effort to
develop an appreciation of friendliness toward
other nations as a basis for world peace; coopera-
tion with other agencies for federal support to
secure equalized educational opportunity for all
children; opposition to legislation to legalize any
form of gambling; support of the movement to
take the offices of state superintendent and county
superintendents out of politics; renewal of activ-
ity to keep the state permanent school fund in-
tact; endeavor to secure legislation for the prosecu-
tion of adults who by means of verbal teachings
contribute to the delinquency of youth; petition
to urge the state office of the WPA to set up
recreation organizations.

Trophy and Banner Awards

Trophy awards were granted to the following
PTA units: For highest number of new chapters
—District 5; for largest percentage of increase in
members among units of over 100 members—
Notre Dame, Mitchell; for largest percentage of
increase in members among units of under 100
members—Colman; for the largest percentage of
subscribers to the national and state PTA maga-
zines — McKinley, Huron; Ramsey, Montrose;
Emerson, Sioux Falls; senior high, Pierre.

Banners were awarded units in Sioux Falls,
Vermillion, Wakonda, Mitchell and Huron.
Standard and superior ratings for merit work were
given to thirty-eight units.

The Bridge Over The Chasm
Mrs. B. F. Langworthy, Nat’! Pres.
(Excerpts from address at Rapid City)

In the last three years, it has been necessary
for the keepers of the children’s future, to
strengthen the abutments of the school end of
this bridge over the chasm, for the pounding of

156

waves of the depression has threatened to under-
mine these pillars. Day and night we have la-
bored to build up the public demand for adequate
schools for children, not.only for the usual twelve
grades, but for those who, in days of prosperity
have been able to go into business upon leaving
junior or senior high school, but who are now un-
able to find work. The effort has told, and a new
understanding of and belief in the school is ap-
parent throughout the land. The support of this
part of our structure must never be allowed to
crumble again through over confidence. But now
we must remember the home end of the bridge,
for this is even more important in a time of de-
pression. The old adage, “When poverty enters
the door; love flies out of the window”, held a
bitter seed of truth. The forces of poverty often
drive whole families into quarters not large
enough for decent living for one person; they
develop undernourishment; they produce irrita-
tion and lack of sympathy, in spite of family af-
fection, and turn-the home into a spot where the
family dreads to come together, instead of the
haven of quiet joy that it should be.

Parents and children live in homes; everything
in the child’s life has its beginning in the home,
and the home must be the background of certain
virtues throughout the child’s growth. Therefore
this end of the bridge must not be allowed to
lose strength nor steadiness. The bridge of San
Luis Rey needed only one weak spot to bring
catastrophe to many lives. The home and school
bridge is no safer if there be one lose stone in
the abutments.

The parent-teacher association is the name of
this structure which spans the chasm. We in-
vite all to use it with us; to become a part of
the constant stream of those who pass to and fro
with the children of the nation. The people own
the bridge, as they own the homes and the schools,
and it is the duty of the people to keep it strong
and safe. If you have not tried this way of pas-
sage, we urge you not to keep to the old river
ford, down at the bottom of the gorge, but to
take, with us, the short and safe crossing of the
bridge across the chasm.

Women’s Educational Camps

Two educational camps for unemployed women
were established in So. Dak. on October 21 by
the Federal government. One is at Sioux Falls
(Columbus College) and the other is at Wes-
sington Springs College.

November, 1935 e SDEA JOURNAL