West Seattle High School - Kimtah Yearbook (Seattle, WA)

Page 10 text:

UR school rises stately, silent, unchanging against the sky. Day in and day out it stands-an institution of higher learning. Through its portals have passed thousands of students. Each autumn the clock above the entrance looks down on a throng of newcomers. Each spring a senior class graduates, leaving behind ac- complishments which will mark the class as being outstanding. What a multitude of memories are hidden between these four walls. Fun! Hard work! Laughter! Effort! Last fall the warm rays of the sun were reflected from the walls of the brick build- ing. School began. Long silent halls once more echoed with friendly talk and laugh- ter. Activities started to roll. Studies were pursued in earnest. Trees lost their leaves and the rains came. War was declared! Through the doors, boys passed to join the armed forces, just as boys did twenty-five years ago. It was with a somewhat sober spirit that the halls were beclecked with fir and holly for the Christmas season. Vaca- ion! Halls were quiet again. Then the holidays were over.

Page 9 text:

KEEP IT FLYING blue sky and billowy clouds the red white and blue our flag ripples and challenges the wind. The houses, the trees, the buildings, everything, gradual- ly fades into the distance. People move closer in, salute, and are warmed by the sig- nificance of the story interwoven with the stars and stripes, a story that becomes more cherished with the passing of each year. MERICA stands at attention. Americans salute the Hag. Silhouetted against ui I r 1 1 l lt began with the fight for supremacy. . . From the tangled struggles of the Ger- mans, the English, the French, the Spanish-all of them-came the American flag, designed as a symbol of freedom and liberty. The Declaration of Independence was signed. Washingtonis troops Wintered at Valley Forge. The Constitution was drawn up, our democracy established . . . The flag moved westward over the Alleghenies as the trail blazer went first, followed by the backwoodsman and his family. Courageous men like Lewis and Clark brought the Hag into the West . . . Immigrants came, came because they were hungry, hungry for more bread and for better bread. America of- fered that. Europe was old, America was young . . . The massacre of the garrison at the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas by the Mexicans made Americans more deter- mined to Remember the Alamo and win the war with Mexico . . . Gold in Califor- nia! The throng of settlers in search of gold assured the safety of Americais claim to this territory . . . General I..ee's surrender to Grant at Appomattox proved that our flag was to reign over a united nation. Slavery was abolished by Lincoln! Our flag was for all Americans, white and black. The Sioux war, the last one with the In- dians, made these redmen brothers, not enemies, under our Hag. Remember the Maine, our battle cry against Spain. Our Hag crossed waters into Cuba and the Phil- ippines . . . National security, threatened by World War I, was made secure again. Our flag continued to wave. Through past years, good and bad, peace and war, prosperity and depression, Amer- icans met danger and conquered it. But the tale interwoven with our banner cannot stop here. It must go on. America is still young. just as the second generation carried on where the first had left off, and the third where the second ceased to function, our generation will carry on the tradition. To all of us young Americans, destiny has hurled a supreme challenge. The years which lie ahead will bring us the summons. Sacrifices are being made and will continue to be made. The boys on Bataan peninsula are giving their lives that we in America may continue to live in a democracy. With leaders like General IVIacArthur and General Wainwright, who, with their men, risked their lives that the American flag still flies over Corregidor, we shall win the struggle. Men in defense plants, women in the homes, boys in the armed forces-all make sacrifices, forgetting themselves in the furthering of one great cause: democracy, the American way of life. The supreme effort of every American, young and old, small and great, will win the war and the peace to follow. We will Keep our Hag Hyingf'

Page 11 text:

ii 2 I Q.. . . 6, , ,.,. i. , . vs., ,M NOW fell silently and mantled the school with a white cloak. At dismissal time, boys and girls rushed out into the wonderland. The snow soon melted. It rained ' again. School became a center of concentrated study as examination schedules were set. A few seniors graduate in mid-term. Springtime brought new activities. There were happy lunch hours spent in the park. Then came Senior Day and com- mencement. Books were closed. Students shouted joyously as school was out for another year. Halls became quiet again. Silence! Our school awaits until fall for the beginning of another school year. Our school-home of the friendly indians beck- ons youth onward. Because of the years spent here, we have a place for our school among fondest memories. Our school years have come to mean more than a boring pursuit of studies. Writing for the school paper, planning service drives, or helping a friend with his troubles are the things which make our school days the very happiest time in our whole life.