Student handbook for 1996-1997 - Southwestern Academy

the Pasadena area in a trade for 40 horsesand some saddles.A century later, in 1888, former CaliforniaGovernor George Stoneman built his ranchon a southwestern section of San PasqualRanch, naming his part the Los RoblesRanch and planting oranges and avocadosto ship by railroad to the East Coast.Famous architect Myron Hunt designed hishome, our Pioneer Hall, completed in 1913.When Southwestern opened in theGovernor’s old home, our Model T Ford“covered wagon” truck (still running today)chugged down from the Huntington Hotelor over from South Pasadena with suppliesand mail for the country campus.Students built a crystal set radio to pick upmusic from the first local station, KRLA -Radio Los Angeles - which startedbroadcasting that year from the hotel nearour school. There was a military drillprogram after classes, an orchestra ofstudents and teachers playing classicalmusic, and even a ninth and tenth gradefootball team wearing uniforms that seemstrange today. A few other homes nearcampus were built in the late 1920s, usingthe Spanish mission-style architecture ofSouthwestern’s buildings.By the 1930s, some international studentsbegan to attend Southwestern, traveling bytrain from Mexico and Central America, orby ship from Asia and Europe. They wouldusually live on campus all school year,including holiday time spent as part of theVeronda family. Some girls were enrolledas day students in the 1930s, whencoeducational study became more popular.During World War II, the school wasbursting with almost 200 boys and girlsliving on campus because of the wartimeneed for boarding places while parents wereinvolved in war work. The school becamewidely known for its excellence, thoughwartime rationing made some food and gasscarce. Five alumni were killed in the war,all flying with the U.S. Army Air Corps.After the war years, Southwestern grewincreasingly international, restoring the lasttwo years of high school and adding theArizona campus to provide outdoorexperiences that used to be possible in SanMarino before the area’s growth.The Beaver Creekbrand, registeredin 1888 by theCasner family fortheir stock, iscalled the“Broken A-4”.Beaver Creek Ranch had been homesteadedby the Casner family in the 1880s, andbecame a private hunting ranch in 1929when the stone buildings were built.Southwestern opened our Ranch Campus in1963. By then, military drills, classicalorchestras, tenth grade graduations, andtackle football were all gone; volleyball,faxes, videos, cell phones, computers, iPods,and many new activities were coming soon.Computers and other teaching tools of todaywould startle Southwestern’s pioneerstudents and teachers, but the school’smission remains consistent with its heritage.For the school’s 50 th Year GoldenAnniversary in 1974, students at Art CenterCollege of Design in Pasadena created acontemporaryseal with morestylized arrowheadssymbolizingour twocampuses, movingforward tothe future,with many linesrepresenting the many different cultures ofour global school.Southwestern is not “owned” by anyone.Maurice Veronda, the school’s founder,made the school a non-profit organization,now headed by his son. The school is nonprofit, not connected with a governmentgroup, and governed by a board of trustees.30