HISTORY OF ZEPHYRHILLS HIGH SCHOOL

Highlights of 1917

Dr. Ward To Preach Baccalaureate Sermon at Zephyrhills, The Rollins Sandspur, Volume 19, No. 23, March 17, 1917

Will Speak Before High School.

The invitation extended by Professor M.J. Okerlund, B.S., Principal of Zephyrhills High School, to preach the baccalaureate sermon at the high school on April 29, has been accepted by Dr. George Morgan Ward. Before going to Zephyrhills, Professor M.J. Okerlund was a member of the Tampa High School Faculty, and it is interesting to note, in this connection, that one of the Rollins seniors, A.J. Hanna, took his first year English course under Professor Okerlund during that time.

Note that in researching Professor M.J. Okerlund, I also discovered that after leaving ZHS, he was a principal at Winter Park and according to Claire MacDowell’s A Chronological History of Winter Park, published in 1950, in 1917 Professor J. M. Okerlund was Principal of the new school which opened in Jan. 1917 with eleven grades, eight teachers, 150 boys and girls.

Minutes of the July 1916 School Board Meeting

At the School Board meeting of July 3-5, 1916, appointments to the Zephyrhills Schools were Professor M.J. Okerlund; high school—Miss Schenck and Mrs. Jessie N. Priest; Eighth grade—Professor V.C. Mathews; other teachers—Miss Flora Ingalls, Miss Lillie Geiger, Miss Urarda Briggs, Miss Marie Stewart and Miss Muriel Storms.

January 2, 1917—School Board Minutes indicate that M.J. Oberlund was ZHS Principal and paid as a salary, a total of $35 per month.