San Diego High School - Gray Castle Yearbook (San Diego, CA)

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No Semi-Annual was the inevitable for no miracles are worked in this cold, calculating age, no rain of gold was likely to fall from a clouded sky. Many members of the class resigned themselves to the condition, but others, likened unto those glorious men who would not accept defeat but carried on and are now responsible for all we call civilization, were determined to get the book. Through the courtesy of the Strand theatre the Senior rented the playhouse for the SemifAnnual fund. It can be said that the students supported this act in the right spirit and a full house was the result. ' With this money as a start, plans for the book were laid, a staff was chosen with strict instructions to economize. All the trials of the Seniors are not set down here and none of the staff troubles are known by all, but anyone whoever edited a school paper or annual can tell you it is no sinecure when funds are low. Look the book over, compare it with others and then take into consideration the economy part of the deal and you will find, no doubt, that it ranks with the best. Look it over again and imagine fimagine that's alll that money was no object and we have the presumption to say that it is as snappy a mid-year book as you can find. So this book will stand dear to the hearts of those who fought for it through dark days because it is a triumph over a great opposition. No, we have built no great canal, laid no Atlantic cable, neither have we been forced from our homes to seek peace and liberty in a new land, but we have put out this book-done the impossible, and to the Seniors it ranks in their estimation equally high. For this did I fight and this same did I win. STUDENT SELF GOVERNMENT TARTED in motion by a half-hearted Student Body and guided by the capable hands that were elected from among that body to manage it, student self-govern- ment at the Gray Castle is rapidly gathering momentum. The way has been hard and the going rough. Ploughingfthrough the difficulties of organizing a judicial body, formulating its rules, and detailing its powers, it struck the obstacles of insubordination and mockery, but the courts forced execution of their sentences with such effect that they have commanded the respect of all. Q The R. O. T. C. was called upon to assist in enforcing the noon period regulations. Student self-government took over the assembly conduct and has maintained order. Study halls have come under their power and although opposition had been strong very good conduct has been kept at all times. Slowly but thoroughly the student self-government body has been assuming duties. The impressions made in the schools of today will determine the course of this country tomorrow. The democratic influence taught by student self-government will be the basis of a greater democracy. It will outline the social relations of man to man twenty years from now. The spirit of a new era is being inaugurated in the minds of the students. Let it be free, hamper it not, but get behind it, and assist it. Let us choose next semester's officers with minds open to any suggestions bettering the cause. We must select men capable of controlling, men of definite policy. To the school it may mean the beginning of a greater democracy or the end of the present one. Nine

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EDITGRIAL SECTIO THINGS THAT COUNT N REVIEWING the great achievements of the world in structure, art, science or literature, why is it that we dwell longer on the work which at the start seemed impossible and during construction was hindered by obstacles which threatened at all times to prove disasterous? It is because we have great admiration for the work of the builder who met, fought and overcame adversity. The Atlantic cable, the Panama canal, the airplane, all stand as monuments of triumph for those who, undaunted kept on through trial and tribulation till the work was completed. A work accomplished through little effort is sweet for a time, but the value soon depreciates, while the result of a bitter struggle lives for ever. Little effort-little value. Men and women of every trade and walk of life can look back at something won only by sacrifice and hardship, yet it is sweeter to them to say: F or that did I fight, and that same did I win, than to lazily remark: That was a cinch, I got it without trying. Last year we celebrated the three hundredth anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims. Their victory over tyranny and hardships is known by all and it is because they had such opposition hat we reverently remember them. Theirs is a triumph which will live forever, while at the time, when days were dark and hope grew dim they carried on and came through to build the foundation of American civilization. In the same sense as we enjoy a hard-fought football game rather than a walk- away, we respect the almost impossible. The Seniors of this January Class of '2l, are likened unto these victors over adversity. They have now a monument of triumph to look back on and say for this did I fight--and that same did I win. The monument?-This book. Anyone of the Seniors can tell you how their hopes of a class book, dear to the hearts of all graduates, were shattered when the question of finance was brought up. The class was small, the A. S. B. fund low and annuals run up to many hundreds of dollars. Plans whereby to raise money were presented, individual donations, appeals to the general fund and many other schemes all fell to the ground. Eight

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R. O. T. C. NCE. subject to the jeers of 2,000 students, the mocking of street urchins, and the sarcastic comments of soldiers, some four hundred men in this school now command the respect of all. These 400 are charter members of a new America, a militant America. Wearing the olive drab of service and the insignia of the United States: they represent a unit of a highly trained corps of future citizens now over 200,000 strong. They are designated as students of the Reserve Officers Training Corps. The instant mobilization of an untrained army was America's proudest achievement in the last war. But the fact that they were untrained cost this country thousands of lives, thousands of limbs, and a billion of dollars. How much smaller would those black- bordered casualty lists have been had America's citizens entered the war with previous military training behind them. 'The nucleus about which that great dream, a citizen army, will be built is the R. O. T. C. In it, far and above military drill, discipline is taught, a respect for our nation and its officers in the performance of their duties. Initiative and self-reliance are inculcated. Physical drills and athletic work are emphasized. It is the golden opportunity for the boys who would know more of army life. To the fellow who intends to serve the nation in any military line it is the primary school. A spirit of comraderie is to be found and a strong Uesprit du corps is noticeable. For the fellows who show leadership, know the art of instructing, and are ambitious, new fields are open. They become sergeants, correct drill, assist officers and assume many duties which bring a sense of responsibility and develop confidence. A step farther and the lad is an officer. As a lieutenant he will have fifty men taking his orders. The trust reposed in him will stiifen his back, increase his self-reliance and teach him to think for others. After his first sense of importance dulls he looks with envy upon the captain, the major. V Summer camps, hikes and range practice during the Easter vacation, give him an opportunity to combine recreation, adventure and soldiering into glorious, all too short holidays. The R. O. T. C. is an ideal place for a real American boy who would grow up to be a real American man-a lover of God and his country. Ten