Mary Washington College - Battlefield Yearbook (Fredericksburg, VA)

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ORGANIZATIONS 0%GA7 IZATI0 l S JD prepare the student for life in a democracy and to make her increasingly self-directed and cooperative are the chief purposes of extra-curricula activities. These activities provide a flawless complement to classroom instruction and their benefits provide for some of the most valuable lessons in life. The participant in extra-curricula activities gains not only mentally and creatively but politically and socially. The lessons taught in self-government are instrumental in formulating the thoughts and actions of a truly educated American. In the social world the student acquires an ability of meeting and conversing with others in an easy and poised manner. The learned faculty of coopera- tion leads to the encouragement of thinking and leading. When the advantages of extra-curricula activities are totaled the sum can be viewed as the true symbol of a student ' s life outside the classroom. 165

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COR?iELL HALL Friendliness and fellowship are the keynotes at Cornell Hall. After just leaving ones home, Cornell is a haven for freshmen to come to; its size and compactness lends the dorm to the surroundings of one happy family. During the day and early evening the dorm is strangely silent because of classes on the Hill but, ten fifteen means more to these girls than the end of study hour — it means the beginning of things; girls getting together in their rooms to talk over their latest doings, girls in the rumpus room in the basement playing table tennis and perhaps (if food is on hand) girls in the kitchen having one last snack before bed. The girls on the Hill are proud of Cornell and its achievements. By the way, it ' s the only dorm that can boast of a man as a full-time tenant. 164

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ORGANIZATIONS STUDE: J gOVE%NME:NiT SSOCIATIOJ Student Government is by far the largest organization on the hill, for its membership is extended to every student registered at the college, and its leaders are representatives of the student body. Far from being exclusively judicial, Student Government has given us the Honor System — a way of living that is fair to all because we live under laws that apply to all. Student Government is not an end in itself — even though it has taken many years to build. It is, rather, a beginning towards the creating of faultless characters, not by punishment alone, but by making every individual respon- sible primarily to himself. The more we par- ticipate in this government the more we find that we must be honest with ourselves, and so, cannot be dishonest with others. Student Government is a growing thing — ■ it means more than the show of wealth, or brains, or power. It is our practice in learning the ways of democracy; it is a trust that has been handed down to us in the faith that we will hold its standards, raise its value, and pass it on to those who follow us. Student Govern- ment is important, for now more than ever before we must learn well how to judge others, and what is even more necessary to judge our- selves. If we can learn to do that fairly, hon- estly, democratically, honorably — we need not fear what is to come, nor lack faith in our ability to go on doing our best in an unsettled world. rouj proME: Cs CHTiJSTIA3 SS0CIATI0:Ni The Young Women ' s Christian Association — to us it ' s just plain Y. Tying in with every worthwhile phase of college years, strengthening friendships, broad- ening horizons, deepening spiritual lives, Y leads ever on. Girls in white represent all the things Y is. We know them, too, in skirts and sweaters, in jaunty jackets, or in cap and gown. But they were, and will be, girls in white, smiling and greeting, asking and answering, very willing, and very much at home in that will- ingness. Y is at its social best in a party for Fresh- men, in a boisterous, carefree Kid Party, in a lighthearted benefit, in a Sunday afternoon tea with soft music and soft voices and soft laugh- ter in genial fellowship, and, with carols of Christmas in every heart, in the fun and gay unselfishness of having a peanut — and a shell. Y at its mental best brings a challenge to knowledge of the world, to consciousness of the tremendous pressures and the unparalleled opportunities of our day, and to true, sympa- thetic, and intelligent participation in that world, no farther away than the next desk, same row. 166