Britton Macon High School - Brittonian Yearbook (Britton, MI)

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V VALEDICTORY By Jackie Penn We, who are gathered here tonight for the last tirne before we go out to make our way in the world, have to realize that we are the citizens of tomorrow's Arnerica. We are proud of the heritage, of being American, but have you ever stopped to realize the full significance of the name American . . . not only what it represents, but also of the actual word itself? Stop and think for a moment about this name and how it is spelled . . . particularly the last four letters. They spell I Can. I CAN. Two little words. But they were the unspoken yet unshakable attitude of the pioneers who founded and developed this country. They are, or should be, the unuttered words that form the sum and substance of all our hoped for success: of the feeling we have within us that we can accomplish whatever we set out to do. Two little words, I CAN, may spell the difference between your success and your failure. Now how can we put this I CAN attitude to work for us ? How can we use it to back our abilities and to accomplish great things for ourselves and for others in our lifetime ? There are several obvious but often overlooked factors. First of all we should decide what we want most of all to make out of our lives. What definite goal, what definite objectives we intend to reach. Then with this goal always in mind we should make our plans, our own road map as it were, to reach it. We should make our plans big, imaginative, and daring. Strike out boldly for the things you want more than anything else. Why should we be satisfied with anything less than aiming to make our most cherished dreams come true ? Never set your goal low sirnply for fear of not reaching a higher one. Don't alibi yourself to failure. Certainly your ultimate and well thought out plans will seem far beyond your reach at first: but a high objective will change the spirit and awaken the creative imagination, and put meaning into the ordinary tasks we must do to attain our desired success. Our mis- take too often is in putting our sights too low, not in raising them too high. We should be like the youthful Henry Wadsworth Longfellow who said, I most eagerly aspire after future eminence in Literatureg my whole soul burns most ardently for itg and every earthly thought centers in it. He had arnbition. His goal was high. He knew he could do it. A mere I CAN. In making our choice of an ultimate goal, let us be sure to direct our ambitions to the line of useful service. The attitude of, What will I get out of it, leads only to heartbreak and ultimately up the blind alley to failure. Yer get ahead in direct pro- portion to how well you offer your effort, your service, your brain powers so that others will want them and will pay for them. Let us remember that in expressing 1 CAN we may be either like the boy who is ambitious to be a leading gangster in a city, or like Williarn Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, who described his motive for plunging into the slums of darkest England as the Ulmpulses and the urgings of an undying ambition to help. o You must give, and give of yourself to others, in order to make the most out of life. lf your aim is bold and big, and you do not trample on others to gain your success, your opportunities are as boundless as the ideas and desires of mankind. Having set our goal, we must use the hidden energies that lie within us, that we can tap through faith. That faith expressed by 1 CAN has a way of freeing every power within our hearts, minds and souls. lt is that kind of faith that smashes fear. It gives us the courage to win out over all disaster and all setbacks. lt gives us the courage to keep on keeping on in the face of all obstacles, however insurmountable they may seem. And with this faith we must have the firm belief that right triumphs over wrong and that our dreams of the future will come true. Through a faith that says I CAN we shall find ways to accomplish that which we set out to do. , 15

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ian VAUGHN SCHOTT Bind 21 3: Glee Club 1. '3. Speech 1. Play Claas Officer 1, 3, Annual Staff Reflector Staff VERA SCOTT Capac High 1, 2, Band 1, 2, Glee Club Cheerleader Play Reflector Staff Annual Staff CARMA SPREEMAN Glee Club Play Reflector Staff Annual Staff NORMA SPREEMAN Glee Club Annual Staff Salutatorlan , 2-1- QV: I IMO TUCKER Macon High l Cheerleader 3, 4 Glee Club Z, 3, 4 Play 3, 4 Claaa Officer 4 JERRY TOMECEK Woodward High 1, Z, 3 Glee Club 4 Annual Staff 4 Basketball 4 Baseball 3, '4 KENNETH VAN VALKENB URG Glee Club Z, 3, 4 Band Z, 3 MELV IN Z ORN OW Glee Club 1 Basketball 1, 2, 3, 4 Baseball l, 2, 3, 4 Class Officer l, 2, 4 Annual Staff 4 1

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An inspiring illustration of what faith can do to overcome the greatest of ob- stacles is Glenn Cunningham, who ran the fastest mile on record. When he was a small boy, he was so crippled in a schoolhouse fire that the doctors predicted he would never walk again. Only a miracle could help him. But Glenn Cunningham wouldn't accept the expressed opinion of the doctors. Through sheer perseverance, and the faith that he Could do it, he began walking by following a plow across the fields, leaning on it for support . . . . sturnbling, falling, clinging to the plow handles, but never giving up. He plowed across the fields and walked. Miraculously, his leg mus- cles gained strength. From there he began experimenting to see what he could do with his legs until ultimately he broke all records for his specialty, the gruelling one mile race .... Faith .... That 1 CAN element which enables us to set our goal to seemingly unattainable heights .... Faith that makes it possible to overcome all obstacles. , Glenn Cunningham is only one of many who has made a success of his life despite tragedy and misfortune. There is Helen Keller, blind from birth. Or Charles P. Steinmetz, the hunch-backed wizzard of General Electric. Or Marshall Field, who vowed to build the Wor1d's Greatest Department Store no matter how many times it might burn down, and literally on the smoldering ashes of his first store, destroyed by the great Chicago Fire, began to build it. Did you ever stop to think that often it is your own attitude which determines whether things go well or ill with you? It is all in the way we look at the misfortunes that befall us that determines what our future will be like. Gaining the right point of view .... and holding it .... is never an easy task. But it is well worth the effort. The story is told of a young soldier who was wounded in the Battle of the Bulge. As he came out of the ether on the operating table, the Army surgeon spoke to him ten- derly: You're going to be all right, Son. The only bad part is that you've lost a leg. Nutsf gasped the soldier, I didn't lose it--1 gave it! What a remarkable point of view and so different from what would normally be expected. Because he chose to look at it that way, the rest of his life would be richer: He was challenged and he accepted that challenge. Without bitterness, without resentment, he could start again to shape his future. Now that we have set our goal in the line of useful service and feel confident that we can surmount all obstacles, we should remember that our achievements may be limited or expanded by how much we like and understand people, and how well we get along with others. By our sincere desire to work with and for others, based on a true love and belief in mankind, and asincere desire to be helpful, we can achieve much greater accomplishments than we can by relying on our own capacities alone. First we must know what real teamwork is, how to get along on a team of widely different personalities, and how to like and be liked by others. The building :rf Hoover Dam at Boulder Canyon demonstrates that through teamwork man can accomplish whatever he dares to attempt. It took six separate firms of contractors banding together to do the project that was too big for any one of the firms alone. Scoffers warned that they cou1dn't even stick together long enough to draw up plans and siibmit a bid to say nothing of constructing the dam. Today Hoover Dam, built by the world's largest aggregation of construction forces ever assembled until then, stands as a monument to what teamwork can do. When we have learned to work with others in a spirit of harmonious co-operation of useful service, we can achieve much more than we could achieve by ourselves. 16