This image was taken by photographer Wesley Rowland shortly after the opening of the “new” high school in 1916. It shows students operating lathes, drills and saws in the school’s Manual Training Program. Manual training was the precursor to today’s vocational education. Manual training emphasized the intellectual and social development associated with the practical training of the hand and the eye through instruction in both wood and metalworking. It was believed that this instruction improved perception, observation, practical judgment, visual accuracy, manual dexterity and would allow the student to transfer this knowledge to almost any kind of setting. It was not intended to teach a specific trade. Notice both genders are participating and most of the young men are wearing neckties. – Ed Horvat for Animas Museum, edhorvat@animasmuseum.org (Catalog Number: 92.22.132 from the La Plata County Historical Society Photo Collections)