Alma College Bulletin 
 
 Published by the College the first 
 and third Tuesday of each month 
 
 Vol. 10 No. 2 
 APRIL 22, 1913 
 
 Entered at Alma, Mich., as second class matter 
 under Act of Congress of July 16, 1894 
 
The Main Building 
 
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 1 
 
 V. » O vocr. e. 
 
 ALMA COLLEGE 
 
 COLLEGE for character” was the clarion call 
 in a Sunday evening sermon in the First Presby¬ 
 terian Church in Bay City, Michigan, early in 
 1886. A dramatic response came with the 
 close of the service, an undreamed-of offer of 
 fifty thousand dollars towards the endowment of such a 
 college. And Alma College was born. 
 
 “A college for character” Alma was for the ninety-five 
 students within its newly opened portals during the college 
 year 1887-1888. “A college for character” it has been to 
 each of the thousands of students who have profited by the 
 liberality of its founders. 44 A college for character” is its 
 insistent aim to-day. 
 
 Alma believes in education. It believes in the education 
 that prepares directly for vocations. It believes in the 
 education that comes from books and laboratories. It 
 believes far more in the education that comes to the young 
 from close association with men and women of character. It 
 believes that education is learning promptness and thought¬ 
 fulness, kindness 
 and helpfulness, 
 and every form 
 of purity; that 
 it is the master¬ 
 ing of mind and 
 spirit, appetite 
 and passion, 
 thought and 
 word and glance. 
 
 On the Campus 
 
Pioneer Hall — for Men 
 
The Library 
 
 It believes in an education which teaches service to be the 
 highest form of worthy living; which identifies selfishness 
 with sin; and which shows that real courage lies in being right. 
 It believes that education is the implanting of good habits, 
 the acquirement of efficiency, the development of twenty- 
 four carat character. 
 
 At Alma every student must take a few prescribed studies. 
 Outside of these each may elect from a wide range of sub¬ 
 jects. However, in order that elected work may lead to 
 wise results, each student is required to emphasize during 
 his course two subjects. This “group system” tends towards 
 unity in variety, tends to make the student something of a 
 master along certain lines instead of a mere dabbler along 
 many lines. 
 
 Alma believes in the value of library work; yet this is not 
 carried to the extreme of having college students try to do 
 
Entrance to Class Rooms 
 
 the research work that belongs peculiarly to the graduate 
 school. In history, sociology, economics, political science, 
 pedagogy, psychology, literature, and in the more advanced 
 work in languages, constant reference is made to the mag¬ 
 azine files, the reference works, and the general library. So, 
 too, the current magazines, a large number of which are 
 found in the reading room, are in regular use for reference 
 purposes by various departments. 
 
 Well-equipped laboratories in chemistry, in physics, and 
 in biology afford the student opportunity for securing the 
 education that comes from doing and handling, as well as 
 that which comes from studying. 
 
 The museum, equipped with an excellent collection of 
 birds, animals, fossils, rocks and minerals, offers facilities for 
 students interested along these lines. A rare collection of 
 Michigan birds is of particular value. The Alexander 
 Winchell collection of rocks, minerals, and fossils, probably 
 the most valuable acquisition of the museum, was gathered 
 by the famous Professor Winchell during his long career as 
 a geologist and teacher. This collection has unusual value 
 
because its thousands of specimens are described by the 
 collector himself. 
 
 A feature of the college work at Alma is the Department 
 of Kindergarten Training. Here young women who have 
 satisfied the entrance requirements, are permitted to do a 
 line of work which, together with the regular college work in 
 English, biology, history, nature-study and household 
 chemistry, gives them in two years’ time a Michigan certif¬ 
 icate, permitting them to teach in the kindergartens of the 
 state. Besides the theory, the young women are given 
 practical training in conducting the kindergarten school, 
 which is maintained by the college as an integral part of the 
 Alma public schools. Girls who complete this work are 
 urged to continue for two additional years, at the close of 
 which they secure not only the kindergarten certificate, but 
 
 Hood Museum 
 
Wright Hall — for Women 
 
also a state teacher’s certificate and a bachelor’s degree. 
 This adaptation of college training to a vocational end 
 appeals to many young women who are anxious to see a 
 bread-winning ability result from their college course. 
 
 Alma College maintains a Music School. Here teachers 
 having the best training afforded in Germany, France and 
 America have charge of the work in voice, piano, pipe organ, 
 and violin. Entrance to the music school is not dependent 
 upon a completion of the college entrance requirements. 
 However, students who have finished high school, by com¬ 
 pleting a course in music, together with certain specified 
 work in literature, language and science, are able to secure 
 a degree in music. Those who have not fulfilled the require¬ 
 ments for college entrance are granted a certificate and 
 diploma when they have completed their musical work 
 together with a less amount of 
 literary work; they cannot, how¬ 
 ever, become candidates for a 
 degree. Students pursuing regular 
 college work as candidates for the 
 bachelor’s degree are permitted to 
 elect a limited amount of music. 
 
 In connection with the Music 
 School are a choral society and 
 orchestra, and a glee club. The 
 choral society and orchestra each 
 year present several public pro¬ 
 grams, while the glee club makes 
 an annual trip during which it sings 
 in about a dozen places. No glee 
 club appearing in the state is more 
 enthusiastically received, or pre- 
 

 The College Glee Club 
 
 Sir 
 
sents a program 
 more attractive 
 as an entertain¬ 
 ment o r more 
 artistic as a mu¬ 
 sical perform- 
 a n c e. Op¬ 
 portunities for 
 return engage¬ 
 ments come from every city in which the Alma Glee Club 
 appears. 
 
 One of the pleasant phases of student years at Alma is the 
 dormitory life. Many of the young men live in Pioneer Hall, 
 a dormitory provided with electric lights, steam heat, shower 
 baths, etc. Here they maintain a type of self-government, 
 in which they make and enforce their own regulations. No 
 narrow restrictions limit their activities and the enjoyment 
 that should accompany dormitory life. On the other hand, 
 the enforcing of their own reasonable regulations regarding 
 
 Physical Training is Required of All 
 
study hours, disturbances, and inter¬ 
 ference with one another, develops a 
 responsibility and a type of manhood 
 that must result in helpful citizen¬ 
 ship. The president and a member of 
 the faculty meet every few weeks with 
 the young men for a general discussion 
 of their life and the results of their 
 system of self-government. 
 
 Wright Hall, the college home for 
 young women, is one of the best 
 equipped buildings for the purpose 
 found among the smaller colleges. Here, likewise, the young 
 women are under a system of student self-government. The 
 Dean of Women, together with a half dozen woman instruc¬ 
 tors, live with the students in Wright Hall and give them 
 every possible assistance in developing noble womanhood. 
 But the responsibility of making and of enforcing house 
 regulations rests largely upon the young women themselves; 
 and this responsibility is perhaps as good training as they 
 receive towards the development of sterling womanly qual¬ 
 ities. Of course, mistakes are made; but in life we learn by 
 
 “Hard to Beat” 
 
When the Game is Won — or Lost 
 
 mistakes, and the Alma College authorities believe that 
 college life should not differ widely from the life which 
 follows graduation. Here should be developed a sense of 
 responsibility. Here the “give and take” which must be 
 met in life’s activities should become familiar. Here young 
 women, as well as young men, should learn to associate with 
 each other on a basis of equality and of reasonable self- 
 restraint. Hothouse training is tabooed. Character devel¬ 
 opment is encouraged. 
 
 The young men and women meet at meals in the dining 
 room at Wright Hall. Thus is maintained a social relation¬ 
 ship which is a real training in the amenities. Perhaps no 
 phase of college life would be surrendered less willingly. 
 
 Practically every Alma student is a member of a literary 
 society; and here are real literary societies, not mere social 
 organizations. Literary work of a high type is done. Men 
 and women alike are trained, by practical work, in various 
 forms of public speaking, carrying out in the society the 
 theories which they have learned in the class room. Inter¬ 
 collegiate public speaking contests, in both oratory and 
 
A Bit of Campus 
 
 debating, are a prominent feature 
 of the college life. Nor are the 
 women without part in this work, 
 for they have each year their 
 contests to choose a college 
 representative to the State Or¬ 
 atorical Contest. 
 
 Football, basketball, baseball, 
 tennis, and track teams are 
 developed; but the real aim of 
 
 “Through Learning’s .... 
 
 Gates” Alma athletics is not to develop 
 
 teams, but to secure for each student the athletic work best 
 suited to his abilities. Alma does not believe in develop¬ 
 ing an eleven while the hundreds sit on the bleachers and 
 cheer; it believes in developing every one of those who sit 
 on the bleachers as well as the eleven. Besides the gymna¬ 
 sium and outdoor athletic work, there are other activities 
 planned to forward the enjoyment of the students. Alma 
 believes in working hard when one works; she believes also 
 in plenty of play and in playing hard during playtime. So 
 
there are picnics 
 up Pine River 
 and corn roasts 
 in that part of 
 the campus 
 known as the 
 Jungle. There 
 are stunt parties 
 and dramatic 
 perf or m ances. 
 in The Jungle There are soci¬ 
 
 ety entertainments, and union social gatherings under the 
 direction of the Y. M. C. A. and the Y. W. C. A. The 
 result is that at the end of a term or of the year, students 
 are anxious to return to Alma work and to Alma play, as 
 they say to each other their temporary farewells. 
 
 Alma is not a large college. Her prime aim is to be a 
 great small college. She believes in the intimate associa¬ 
 tion of student and instructor. She feels the overwhelming 
 advantage of faculty knowing student, and of student know¬ 
 ing faculty. In 
 this association 
 the character¬ 
 forming in¬ 
 fluences best 
 find their way 
 into the heart 
 and life of the 
 student. The 
 small college is 
 the great nurs¬ 
 ery of character. 
 
 On Pine River 
 
Good Bye! 
 
 INQUIRIES MAY BE ADDRESSED TO 
 
 THE PRESIDENT OF ALMA COLLEGE, 
 ALMA, MICHIGAN 
 
 t. R. DONNELLEY A SONS CO., CHICAGO