Along the Road: From Wanglang
   School to Wattana Wittaya Academy

                       
                 
11910/2453 – 1925/24683
        The reign of King Rama VI

 

1910/2453
There was a royal wedding ceremony between King Rama VI and Princess Varnvimol, the daughter of Prince Naradhip, who was Wanglang School alumnus (pupil ID 435). She influenced Thai ladies to wear skirt and had long hair up-done.
1910/2453
Miss Elsie Bates helped teaching at Wanglang School. At this stage, the school was famous and self-contained. There was an expansion of school rooms, dormitory, refectory, reinforce the pier and acquired land toward the back. Siamese civil servants and citizen helped to donate.
1911/2454
Miss McCord began to use electric oven to bake bread.  
1911/2454
Film producer, Richard Burton Holmes Traveloques, use Wanglang School as his location.
1911/2454
Miss Alice J. Ellinwood was the person who reviewed lecture preparation that teachers planned to teach the day after, so as to make sure of the highest standard for the school.
1912/2455
Bangkok was flooded. Miss Cole baked rice cracker and donated to people who were affected.
1914/2457
World War I broke out. Siam entered the war. Wanglang School opened a “Red Cross Tea Room” to solicit donation and sent relief money to the French Red Cross Society.
1914/2457
This year, Miss Cole bought a new 25 rai (40,000 sq.m.) plot of land, on the bank of Saen Saeb Canal. The land was divided to fruit orchard, flower and plant garden and building site. The building site had to be elevated for 4 feet as a precaution against flood. Friends sent a lot of plants. There were 900 coconut saplings, 100 mangoes, 50 mahoganies and more than 100 bananas. Then there were lime, pomelo, rose-apple and others. A doctor gave 5 quinine trees. Unfortunately, the manager did not know about trees thoroughly. Some disappeared.
1914/2457
Alumni and well-wishers donated as much as 75,000 baht to build school building.
1915/2458
The school increased Mathayom 7 class. Pupils graduated from this class received School’s Diploma. At that time, girl school according to the government’s curriculum only finished at Mathayom 6. Girls who passed Mathayom 6 were considered having completed secondary school for girls; whereas, boys had to complete Mathayom 8. But Wanglang school thought that knowledge obtained in Mathayom 6 was not enough. So, higher grade was added to the school’s curriculum.
1919/2462
There was a ceremony to lay the corner stone of new school building on the 27th of September. The building was designed from Manila. Mr. C.A. Steele supervised the construction project.  
1920/2463
Construction of Wattana Wittaya Academy dormitory was finished. Construction cost was donated by churches in the USA.
1920/2463
Queen Sawang Wattana donated 1,000 baht to Wattana Wittaya Academy.
1920/2463
Queen Sawabha Pongsri donated 1,600 baht to Wanglang School and later donated another 2,000 baht.
1921/2464
Wanglang School moved from the old place to Bangkapi and changed the name to Wattana Wittaya Academy.
1922/2465
In May, the fifth church at Wattana held the first service in the school’s auditorium. The church’s first pastor was Reverend Kimheng Mangkornpan.
1923/2466
In April, Miss Edna Sarah Cole retired and returned to the USA.
1923/2466
Miss Bertha Blount was appointed a Principal of Wattana Wittaya Academy.
1923/2467
Miss Bertha Blount resigned to marry Phra Artvidhyakom.