Bridgewater State University - Alpha Yearbook (Bridgewater, MA)

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i927 NORMAL OFFERING Destroy this Temple and in Three Days I will Build it up Again In the Words of our Lord- Destroy this temple and in three days I will build it up again, -the spirit behind our school has a graphic parallel. After careful consideration,- and at the risk of criticism,-we have decided that no other words can so aptly express our thought as this quotation. It symbolizes to us the triumphing of spirit over matter. The material things of this world may be destroyed, but the spirit cannot. A short while ago our school building crumbled into ashes. Nothing that was earthly remained. But the soul of the school,-the knowledge of the necessity of well-trained teachers,-lived on in the hearts of the Massachusetts educators. A few months found erected in the place of the destroyed building a structure more power- ful, more adequate, and more beautiful than ever. Destroy this temple and in three days I will build it up again. Each year the members of our school have instilled in them the spirit of well-trained teachers. His excellency Alvan T. Fuller, Governor of Massachusetts, says, Schools can-I not rise above the teachers in them. If this be so, and we feel that it is, how vitally essen- tial it is for us to carry the high ideal of Bridgewater Normal School, through which it sur- vived a calamity, into the schools in which we teach. Centuries ago, the Greek philosopher, Diogenes, uttered a modern view when he said, The foundation of every state is the education of its youth. He did not say that a nation needed great industries, powerful trade routes, or conquering armies in order to survive. He knew that there is something more fundamental which forms the basis of a state. Educa- tion is the bed-rock on which the rest is constructed. All mundane effects may be destroyed, but if the spirit lives on, reconstruction will follow. If, as Napoleon says, Public instruction should be the first object of government , then the second should be that the public instruction should be the best possible. The State Normal School at Bridgewater has ever aimed to graduate only students who have at- tained a high degree of pedagogical ability. Because this skill was possessed by our in- structors, they were able to carry on through disaster and into the new life of the school. A spirit was there which could not be destroyed. The temple is but a fragile place, at best. It is the will to fight and conquer that counts. Destroy this temple and in three days I will build it up again. Marie Hayes. ...Q 14 5...

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I927 NORMAL OFFERING if CLASS , V'fi??T'tx - 1 g .!1NIf,fJ,7jl' President . . WILFRED GRAVES Vice-President . . GOLDIE COLBURN Secretary . . DORIS KELLEHER Treasurer . . . . MARJORIE NICHOLS History Lookouts in the towers of Bridgewater sighted a strange craft making port one day in September, 1923. This ship was in sad need of repairs, and showed strong evidences of hav- ing borne the brunt of many storms. The crew was composed of ambitious and progressive youths who were seeking Higher Learning. They had managed to keep their craft afloat on the dangerous seas, but fearing the storms to come they realized the need of the peaceful shelter and fortitude that the harbor promised. Life in their new surroundings was a pleasant one for the crew. They were known as the D's and a genial and original lot they were. They first gave evidence of their originality when they opened their marvelous Three Ring Circus . A step higher toward their goal, the second year found the land sailors at Bridgewater Normal working enthusiastically under the name of C's. It was during this year that a terrible calamity befell them-their beloved new home was almost completely destroyed by fire. As a result of the fire the crew was sent to nearby lands to train, a year earlier than they would otherwise have been sent. The title of Cs merged into that of B's upon the beginning of the crew's third year of study. Many of the B's seeing the goal in sight, became eager to launch their boats once again, but they were told that by remaining on land another year they would be better equipped to face the storms that they would be sure to meet upon leaving the sheltered harbor. Furthermore, they were told that another year's application to their work would gain for them a badge of merit, a symbol of perseverance, called a degree. As A's, the crew was well represented in all the activities of the school. Members were particularly distinguished in the chapel exercises of the various departments. The A Social was a well attended affair. Now the year is fast drawing to a close, and the time is very near when the crew will again sail, not in the great ship in which they came, but in individual ships, each one to fight out his own destiny. With eyes straining out to sea to catch a glimpse of the not distant shores of Success, they will guide their crafts with a firm purpose out of port and on to the great sea of Life. DoR1s KELLEHER 1... ...4 16 T