Dear Friends,
At the beginning of the 2016-2017 academic year, I posted something about G.Y. Short, who graduated from here and eventually served under five UCA presidents. I thought the letter he wrote in 1911 was well done and appropriate, and decided to send it to readers a second time.
106 years ago this coming September, G.Y. Short, namesake for Short Hall, entered the Normal as a student. Like many early Arkansas school teachers, he qualified for a teaching certificate before he graduated from high school, at the age of 17. His first teaching job was at Mud Creek, located eight miles from Middlebrook, Arkansas. He also taught at Choctaw. In 1910 he entered the University of Arkansas for one year and then transferred to Arkansas State Normal School (now the University of Central Arkansas) where he received the Licentiate of Instruction in 1912. He later received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Peabody College and did post graduate work at the University of Chicago.
The attached PDF is a letter Mr. Short wrote to The Normal Echo in October 1911. In the letter he offers his opinion about Arkansas State Normal School. The last sentence in his letter is very heartwarming, and personally, I feel just as he did and hope all our students and employees feel the same way.
Sincerely,
Jimmy
August 24th, 2017