Three 1953 Uni High alums — Jack Wills, Terry Abrahams, and Greg Gregorich — have written about their experiences at Uni and wanted to share their thoughts with current students and faculty. Our first contributor was Jack Wills, whose article appeared Wednesday. On Thursday our second contributor was Terry Abrahams, née Kaplan, who discussed the many activities outside of class that came to define who Uni students were in the early 1950s. Today Greg Gregorich — who went on to graduate from Harvard Law School and practice corporate law until he retired in 2002 — tells the story of how his experiences at Uni were his introduction to life in America. In addition, Gargoyle senior editor Alex Zhai interviewed Mr. Gregorich via e-mail, and a transcript of that Q&A can be found after the article.

Greg Gregorich as pictured in the 1953 Uni yearbook. Yearbook photo (click to enlarge)

THIS COUNTRY WAS a very different place half a century ago. Dwight (Ike) Eisenhower, a grandfatherly Republican, former general, and war hero, who sometimes garbled his syntax but presided with moderation over the federal government, was president. He was a believer in governing by consensus and enjoyed the cooperation of both parties in the Congress to an extent unknown in today's polarized political climate.

Business was booming, and housing starts were at an all-time high in order to provide homes for the million or so veterans who were in a hurry to get on with their civilian lives and their families. Prices were low. For 21 cents you could get a milkshake and for 25 cents a hamburger at lunch counters in Champaign.

The only disturbing element was the Cold War, which had begun in 1948 and had transformed the Soviet Union from a valued ally to a sinister enemy empire which had spread its toxic ideology across Europe from the Baltic all the way to the Black Sea.

My family group of five, consisting of my mother, my sister Elisabeth, my grandparents, and me, arrived in Champaign in June of 1950, fresh off the boat from Europe. We were Yugoslavs and beneficiaries of the Displaced Persons Act of 1948, a generous piece of federal legislation, which permitted hundreds of thousands of Central Europeans, who, like us, had fled from communism during and after World War II and had sought safety in the American Zone of Occupation in Germany, to emigrate to America. Under the act, all DPs had to have a sponsor to help them settle in their new land. Our sponsor lived in Champaign and brought us to live there.

Suddenly, the tremendous turbulence of war-torn Europe which had been our way of life was over, and we experienced the peace and prosperity of the American Midwest of 1950 as an amazing novelty. Like other immigrants, we found that life in America required hard work and effort, but it was rewarding, in that American society opened its doors to people like us, who were willing to study hard and work hard to get ahead.

In typical immigrant style, we rolled up our sleeves and went to work. My mother became the main breadwinner and held jobs initially as a cook, and then as department store worker, research assistant to a University of Illinois professor, and librarian at the University library. My grandmother, who was a gifted amateur artist, went to work doing color portraits for a local photographer, my sister worked as a library page, and I started as a caddy at the Urbana Country Club and had a succession of part-time jobs thereafter. My best job was being a rink guard at the U of I skating rink. By pooling our earnings, we were able to rent an apartment in a good part of Champaign and live in reasonable comfort.

In September 1950, my sister and I applied for admission at Uni High thanks to a suggestion by a kind Champaign lady whose daughter attended that school. The contrast between the “Oberrealschule” I had attended in Bavaria and Uni High was dramatic. In the immediate postwar era in Germany, there were literally no high school textbooks available because they had all been written during the 12 years of the Nazi era, were full of outrageous political propaganda, and had to be cleansed of toxic Nazi material before being reissued.

For that reason, we had no textbooks at all for the first few years after the war, but during class had to take dictation from the teachers, who would read material from old textbooks which they had edited so as to eliminate Nazi propaganda. The educational material available thus consisted only of paper, pencils and very good teachers. Despite the chaos which prevailed during the immediate postwar years, I received a very solid education in Germany, which included Latin, English, math, history, geography, German literature, and biology. Upon arrival at Uni High, I was told by my academic adviser to skip the freshman year and to enroll as a sophomore.

The change from the German disciplinarian style of instruction to the enlightened one prevailing at Uni High took some time to get used to. When classes started at Uni High, jumping to my feet when I was addressed by a teacher was automatic after years of German-style schooling, and I was gently told that it was not necessary to do so. Also, the Uni High teachers frequently asked for our contributions during class and then politely listened to our answers. This was a pleasant novelty because it contrasted with the authoritarian style of German teachers. Class discussion in Germany had been almost nonexistent.

At Uni High, methods of instruction included such interesting novelties as teaching about the work of the United Nations by having the students take the roles of the U.N. representatives of various nations. Uni High also had what I considered terrific luxuries, which included a well-equipped gymnasium and an excellent library. These were pleasant novelties for me, for the German school I had attended had neither of these facilities.

Academically, Uni High turned out to be excellent and prepared us well for college. We learned how to do research and write scholarly reports. The teachers placed great stress on urging us to think logically and to learn to speak and write coherently in class. Some of the teachers were particularly impressive. For example, Mr. Potter taught an unforgettable English class, Miss Changnon taught French with Gallic charm, Mr. Beberman taught math but also developed a new approach to effective instruction in that subject, and the first-rate art teacher, Mr. Laska, had a profound and lasting effect on me.

The school librarian, Miss Fedder, kindly took me under her wing and introduced me to a whole world of books by American authors. I devoured the books she recommended and read my way through many of the works of such authors as Hemingway, Faulkner, Dos Passos, Mark Twain and Thurber. These and other such authors provided me with an introduction to American life.

Aside from the civility of the Uni High teachers, the wealth of collateral activities in which we could take part was a delightful novelty for me. Each year we prepared a school carnival for which I painted posters and signs. Excellent music instruction was provided by Mr. Schuetz, and we sang our hearts out in mixed chorus, boys ensemble, and the annual operetta. The high point of my singing came in my senior year, when I was invited to join the madrigals and also got to perform the role of the police sergeant in Gilbert and Sullivan's “Pirates of Penzance.”

Our student government at Uni High was an important introduction to democratic governance and procedure for me. During my sophomore year I first observed how our class president, Jack Wills, conducted meetings using Robert's Rules of Order. Those rules and the sensible and orderly way in which these meetings were conducted under them were most impressive to me and probably had something to do with my eventual choice of occupation.

The foundation provided by Uni High was solid and stood me in good stead when I went to college, first at the University of Illinois and, later, at the University of California, in Berkeley. In 1950 I had been an immigrant, and thanks to Uni High, by 1953 I had become an American. The study habits developed at Uni High were still part of me when I went on to Harvard Law School and became a lawyer.

Questions and Answers with Greg Gregorich

The following is an edited transcript of an e-mail interview with Greg Gregorich, conducted by Gargoyle senior editor Alex Zhai.

Could you tell us a little bit about the things you went on to do after Uni?

I went across the street and enrolled as a freshman at the University of Illinois, College of Fine and Applied Arts, spending the following three semesters as a very happy art student. I must have taken to it like a duck to water, for I was named one of 10 “best freshmen” and elected to the Society of Illustrators, a national honorary society. During the following summer, however, I met a number of professional artists in Chicago, who persuaded me that art was sure to keep me poor for most of my life and that I should get a useful education.

I took their advice. After an interruption for military service, I resumed my student life, but majored in history at the University of California, Berkeley (B.A. with honors in history, Phi Beta Kappa, 1960) and then went on to Harvard Law School (L.LB. 1964). I received a Fulbright Fellowship for the study of law in Germany and spent the next academic year at the University of Munich. Upon my return to the U.S., I went to work in a New York law firm and spent the following 38 years practicing law in various courts in New York and many other places. I was a business and financial litigator, specializing in large corporate cases, retiring in 2002. Art had been a serious avocation during my entire life and became my principal occupation when I retired.

How much have you stayed in touch with your high school classmates?

Contacts were sporadic until our 40-year reunion. Since then, a number of us have remained in regular contact, and we held another reunion marking 50 years. We are currently planning our 55-year reunion to take place in early November 2008 in Urbana.

What prompted you to write these articles sharing your reflections about Uni?

It was my classmate Jack Wills who suggested that some of us write these articles in order to memorialize our experiences at the school.

What would you consider to have been the most important and/or unique qualities of Uni when you attended?

For me, having just arrived from Europe in 1950, Uni High was literally my introduction to America, its history and civilization. The education we received was excellent and prepared us for college so well that I always felt that my college courses were fairly easy to master. Because of the thorough preparation received at Uni High, I never felt that any of my courses at the Universities of Illinois and of California were difficult. (That was not true of Harvard Law School, which I found to be extremely challenging and which required enormously long hours of study each day.)

There's a feeling among some current Uni students that their lives just follow a script: a day-in-and-day-out routine of 8-to-4 classes, extracurricular sports, and homework. We do a lot of things, but they are often the same things that everyone else does. How would you compare that to your experience? Can you describe how you spent most of your time?

Extracurricular activities were a big and enjoyable part of my life at Uni High. I was very fortunate to become a student of Mr. Laska, who was a very talented and enjoyable art teacher. He stimulated me to try my hand at many different media and opened the door for me to the world of art and art history. He was actually superior to most of the art instructors at the University of Illinois whom I encountered later. My other principal activity was music. Being chosen for a lead in Gilbert and Sullivan's “Pirates of Penzance” and being tapped for madrigals in my senior year was a delight. My perspective on Uni High really did not change over the years. It still represents three of the most important and enjoyable years of my life.

What advice do you have for Uni students during and after high school?

The best advice I can give present students at Uni High is: “Carpe diem.” The mix of intellectual growth, sports, music, and social activities available at the school is terrific. The years fly by all too quickly, and life becomes increasingly serious with each passing year thereafter.