Calhan High School - Bulldog Yearbook (Calhan, CO)

Page 10 text:

Ralph K. Calabrese MESSAGE TO SENIORS OF 1972 BUILD FOR CHARACTER-NOT FOR FAME - so says the motto you have adopted as a guideline for yourselves as you step across the threshold from youth to adulthood. It is a worthy motto and a guideline that will serve you well in the years to come. The world is full of those who have discovered that fame is fleeting— a will o' the wisp that vanishes into nothingness under the harsh winds of change—and, that is because this thing we call fame arises from outside of ourselves, it is the us that others see us as and, as such, is subject to the moods and vagaries of the moment. Character, on the other hand, is lasting and permanent--it is the us that, within ourselves, we know ourselves to be--and that is because character arises from within us. Character is the cornerstone upon which we erect the edifice of our lives. And, whatever we may have been, whatever we now are, and whatever we may hope to become, our character belongs to each of us uniquely—it is our own--we have built it: moment by moment, day by day, thought by thought, deed by deed, we have built it; and, must, of necessity, live with it each day, all the days of our lives. If you lay the cornerstone carefully and build the edifice true to the cornerstone, the time will come when the cornerstone and the capstone will be one and the same--the character you have built for yourself. I congratulate each of you on the building you have done thus far. In the nature of things, a part of us who have been privileged to touch your lives will go with you; and, a part of you who have been so much a part of our lives, will remain with us. Ralph K. Calabrese, Superintendent --