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Herbert W Armstrong on Early Development of Ambassador College

From The Autobiography of Herbert W Armstrong, Vol, 2, Chapter 60 (1987) 

The College Develops

I have already covered student participation in producing The Plain Truth and The Good News, which became its temporary substitute, from April, 1951, through May, 1953. This was the real firstfruits of the college in the growing WORK OF GOD.
   The growth of the GOSPEL work has directly paralleled the development of Ambassador College! Without the college, the work of thundering Christ's GOSPEL around the whole world could not have been possible. It could never have gone around the world.
   It was the development of the college in Pasadena that made possible the growth of the whole gospel work!
   The college in Pasadena started, remember, in October, 1947 with just four pioneer students. There were eight professors and instructors. The second college year, 1948-49, there were seven students. That was the half-time year. It was operate half-time or give up and quit. Never would we do the latter.
   The third school year, 1949-50, there were twelve students — eleven men and one girl. We felt we were now large enough to organize, for the first time, a student council. This was our first student organization.
   For the year 1950-51, there were twenty-two students. The fifth college year, 1951-52, there were thirty-two students. The college was growing! 

First Yearbook

At the close of the 1950-51 year, the students produced their first "annual," or "yearbook," The Envoy. It contained thirty-six pages — counting the cover. Of course it was pretty thin, compared to the "annuals" of larger, older, established colleges. But it was a beginning. Today The Envoy is one of the finest published by any college-grade institution anywhere — a fine book with heavy stiff covers, and printed in full color.
   Where there is life, and spirit, and constant GROWTH, small beginnings mean only a START. It was the same with The Envoy as with every other phase of this dynamic, fast-growing work!
   The 1952 Envoy did not grow in pages, but improved in quality. Just as The Plain Truth had its struggle through the early years, so did the student publication, The Envoy. The 1953 book was a BIG improvement, but we had to skip 1954 altogether.
   However, the 1953 edition came out with a thick, heavy cover for the first time. It was all black and white — that is, black ink only. But it contained sixty pages beside cover, and was a much improved production. The 1955 edition went to sixty-eight pages, and improved contents, especially the photography and art work. The 1956 Envoy continued the improvement, with seventy-six pages, but still black and white. By 1961 it reached two hundred pages, a much finer cover, much improved photography and design, and we were getting into color pages. 

The Foreign Language Clubs

By the 1951-52 college year, extracurricular activities were getting organized. That year three foreign language dinner clubs were organized. These are dinner clubs, at which no English is spoken — only the language of each specific club. There was the French Club, the German Club, and the Spanish Club.
   They were initiated at Ambassador College in order to give the students of each language the experience of speaking and hearing that language outside of class — in actual continuous conversation — to help them learn to express themselves fluently in that tongue.
   We in GOD'S WORK are commissioned to proclaim Christ's original gospel to ALL NATIONS. We knew, then, that this would require much printed literature in various languages, as well as called and trained ministers experienced in speaking and broadcasting fluently, and without broken accent, in the various languages. This training began the very first college year — but the language dinner clubs began in 1951.
   Other languages were later added to the curriculum at Ambassador College. 

The Ambassador Clubs

In February, 1953, Mr. Jack R. Elliott, then dean of students, asked me if I would go with him as a guest to visit a businessman's "Toastmasters' Club." These clubs are, I believe, worldwide. They are evening dinner speech clubs. First, several men are called on without advance notice to stand and discuss, in one or two minutes, some topic assigned by the "table topics chairman." Later there are a number of prepared speeches, usually limited to about six minutes.
   Mr. Elliott wanted to introduce speech clubs into Ambassador College activities, patterned after these clubs, but with a few variations adapted to our needs. We saw at once the value of such an activity at Ambassador.
   In February, 1953, the first of these clubs was organized and under way. Our adaptation was called the Ambassador Club. Soon there were two such clubs on the Pasadena campus, then three, then four. In 1954, there were seven at the Pasadena campus.
   These clubs have done more to develop public-speaking ability than any other activity. They are a most effective addition to our regular courses in public speaking. They teach men to think on their feet, develop personality and familiarity with world events and many important topics.
   Soon the first women's club was formed. These, too, have continued to expand. I'm quite sure they are different, at Ambassador, than any other women's clubs. They have a very definite effect in the cultural development of our young women. 

Campus Paper

About November, 1951, the students started the first campus paper. It is called The Portfolio. It contains college news, personal items about students, news of the progress of the work, and a certain sprinkling of campus fun. It gives students training in writing.
   The Portfolio started crude and small — mimeographed. In due time it became a real printed campus paper of quality. 

Comes the Ambassador Chorale

In the college year 1951-52 we had thirty-two students. In the spring of that year, Mr. Leon Ettinger, director of the voice department in the school of music, decided to organize the students into a singing group, train them secretly at his home, and then spring the whole thing on me as a surprise!
   How they all kept the secret through many weeks of rehearsals I'll never know. But they did.
   At the annual spring concert of the music department — consisting of piano and vocal solo numbers by students — the whole group stood together, and to my amazement, sang the Fred Waring arrangement of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" like veterans. Actually there was not a trained singer among them — but they had put their whole hearts and energies into it through many weeks.
   As Mr. Ettinger later wrote about it: "At that time we scraped the bottom of the barrel to find talent. If you could put two notes together on an instrument or sing a little song in tune, you were on the program. When we gathered together all our resources, we had twelve singers for our little chorus.
   "We practiced faithfully for several months, always at Ettinger's to keep it quiet, and at last the great day arrived. At the end of the evening Mr. Ettinger announced that a new musical organization had been formed, called the Ambassador Chorale; and that, with Mrs. Ettinger at the piano, they would sing 'The Battle Hymn of the Republic,' and that they were dedicating this first performance anywhere to Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong. The years have smoothed away any slight imperfections, and we only remember that it was an absolute smash."
   Actually, I remember, I was overcome with surprise, rather choked with emotion, and unable to speak.
   That was the beginning of one of our outstanding activities at Ambassador College — the Ambassador Chorale. From that small beginning it has grown into a musical organization that I feel would do credit to any college or university ten to twenty times our size.