Annie Wright School - Shield Yearbook (Tacoma, WA)

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(9 JHe f- HI-eL l 6) One ' s ideas as to what are the essentials of an education are largely determined by one ' s conception of life ' s objectives. If that elusive and indefinable thing which we call culture is among our objectives, then it is well to observe that it can neither be created nor imparted. It must be imbibed, as it were, from an atmosphere in which one is immersed. That the Annie Wright Seminary furnishes such an atmos- phere is not here to be argued, but perhaps the writer will be pardoned if he ex- presses his gratification that this cultural atmosphere is what he found there when in 1925 he made his first contact with the school, and he believes it to be one of the most charming and valuable characteristics of the place. Without it. no private school would have any reason for being. Moreover, good government in a democracy and the quaii- :s citizenship rest upon the twin foundation stones of education and religion. As was said by the prophet of old. Where there is no vision, the people perish. Said another, your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. The unthinking might remark that it is far more important that the young shall see visions than that the aged shall dream dreams. But it were wiser to observe that the youth of today will be the aged of tomorrow, and that there is an inevitable relationship between that which the young visualize in prospect and that which the aged shall dream in retrospect. Therefore, that one should learn to lift up his eyes unto the hills from whence cometh his help is quite necessary if, later on, going through the vale of misery he is to be able to use it for a well and to find the pools filled with water. It is only they who go from strength to strength. With this conviction the Annie Wright Seminary, founded by Bishop Paddock as a Church School for girls, has always taught religion, to which the chaplain, the chapel and the curriculum bear witness. In so saying, let me add that proselytizing is for- bidden and proper courtesy and respect are shown to every religious faith repre- sented in our students. The point is that good citizenship, which is another great objective of tf tution, is aimed at by an educational process which does not merely sharpen The wits but which also provides for the nurture of the soul. To these educational ideals the Annie Wright Seminary was dedicated in the beginning, and to them the school has ever remained true. With no departure from these Ideals the future may see. and some of us hope that it will see a widening of our educational scope. The day has come in which there is a great need for the Junior College. Will the Annie Wright Sem- inary ever Incorporate the Junior College into its mode of operation? The answer depends upon fiscal limitations rather than upon any limitation of ambition or slavish adherence to custom. To be quite frank, money is a factor, but generous alumnae, public-spirited citi- zens and loyal church people could make anything possible. At present, the school ' s primary need is scholarships. Thanks to the generosity of Bishop and Mrs. Robert Lewis Paddock — Bishop Paddock being the son of the founder. Bishop John Adams Paddock — a beginning has been made. Surely we are justified in venturing the hope that others will follow their example. To this future we look with com- Page twenty-eight

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© ZJne T Shi€l i © may be filled to capacity, and thus hasten the day when it will be freed from this heavy indebtedness. Since the school was Tirst occupied, we have completed the swimmmg pooi at an additional cost of about $17,500 and built two new tennis courts and an athletic field at a total cost of about $5,000 in our endeavor to keep the plant up to date for the bonef ' t of the studen+s. JAMES M. KEEN. Secretary. The Board of Trustees. RT. REV. S. ARTHUR HUSTON Bishop of Olympio 1931 THE FUTURE Others, better qualified than myself, by virtue of longer association with the Seminary, have written of its splendid history and traditions. I have been aslced to write something about its future. This I am glad to attempt, because an educa- tional institution which has to do with creating a sense of discrimination between true objectives and false, and with an appreciation of things that are true, beautiful and good, must also have a few proper objectives for itself as an institution. The Annie Wright Seminary, therefore, with almost fifty honorable years behind it. may well propose for itself something other than longevity which we venture to believe it has already attained, in a section of the country which still numbers its years by decades rather than by centuries. Page twenty-seven

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plete confidence based upon the school ' s uninterrupted continuity of ainnost half a century. Into it have gone the love and devotion, the nneans, the ability and the consecration of great souls. Out of it has come a long line of lovely girls now grown to noble womanhood. Can such an institution be other than an inspiration to carry on and to carry through? One closing but important word. Someone has aptly remarked that there is no such thing as a great school, but that there is such a person as a great school- master or mistress. The Annie Wright Seminary owes much to a number of noble women wno at principals in their turn have presided over the destiny of the school in the past. Its immediate future is committed to the hands of one who In every way measures up to the standard of her predecessors. In Sallie Egerton Wilson, the present bearer of the torch, the trustees, the faculty, the students, the alumnae, the patrons of the school, and the writer, see the embodiment of strength with poise and of ability with charm. Learning will not languish under her gentle and humanizing touch, and — what Is not of least Importance in a school — happiness abounds. S. ARTHUR HUSTON. Bishop of Olympia and President of the Board of Trustees. Page iwe.Ti -nine