SUNY Plattsburgh - Cardinal Yearbook (Plattsburgh, NY)

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Dr. Q. K. HAWKINS You are graduating from this institution, who have here breathed daily the spirit of the place, whose ambitions have here been shaped and given wings, who have here acquired the foundation of your skill to train the children of the State, who have here spelled out some of the great fundamental lessons which every useful person must somewhere, somehow surely learn — we salute you. If anything connected with the achievement of honor and of place is worthy of thankfulness, it is above all the sense of having earned it. The unearned incre- ment in the permanent success of human life is so small as to be of little moment always. The things worth while, the things to which you will give the highest valuation will be the things which you have honestly won for yourselves through persistent toil and exertion. If life contains any lesson worth the learning it is that one, constantly exemplified in all the fields of human activity, that by labor only are the years perfected. This is a law inexorable and fortunately for us it applies equally to our happiness and our accomplishment.

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DR. G. K. HAWKINS

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CLASS QIFT The gift of the Class of 1025 to the school is a mural painting -the second of a symbolic group of mural panels with which four successive classes are decorating in a fitting and significant manner the front wall of Normal Hall. The first and central panel of the arrangement was the gift of the Class of 1923 and the present Junior and Freshman classes are planning for the completion of the project. The entire decoration will occupy a frame twenty-eight feet in length by twelve in height and the paintings alone are to cost twelve hundred dollars, of which sum each of the four classes contributes one-fourth. The theme of the composite group is The Normal Graduate. His vision, his graduation, his entrance into the field of service and the social forces that give meaning to his profession are to be portrayed in a symbolic manner. This theme is the conception of George Lawrence Nelson, a notable young mural artist of New York City and the paintings are the work of Mr. Nelson ' s brush. The central panel portrays a normal student in the act of receiving his cre- dentials — the diploma that will entitle him to a place in the Teacher ' s profession. The panel given by the Class of 1925 will occupy a position to the lower right of the center. It pictures two young teachers who, having completed their preparation, have entered the field and are engaging upon their chosen work. The symbolic set- ting is vibrant with unfolding life. In this symbolism the artist has made a very happy choice, for the teacher has ever to do with unfolding minds and limitless possibilities of social evolution. To the discerning this is beautifully suggested by the figures of childhood and youth, as well as by the bursting mystery of springtime in the hills, the purple that veils the far horizon line and the vast reaches of over- arching cloud and sky.