Adams High School - Hilltop Yearbook (Adams, NY)

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GlaAA ctttii uf, An eternity ago, we entered kindergarten. We were all very anxious to start school; our older brothers and sisters had told us all about it, and it seemed as if we just couldn't wait. Nevertheless, we were glad to have our parents bring us on that first day. After the first shy greetings, we began to make friends with each other. We soon found that we were all rugged individualists; many of our personalities clashed. Our teacher must have had a hard time trying to show us that our wishes weren't particularly important to anyone else. That first year was largely one of learning to work together as a social unit. However, we wanted very much to have friends, and soon we were all bosom pals. As we progressed through the first six grades, we had many memorable experiences. One of these was our annual operetta. Our voices weren’t always on pitch, and sometimes we forgot our lines; but you should have heard the audience applaud! Maybe they were prejudiced in our favor. At any rate, they were almost entirely comprised of our parents. Of course, we’ll never forget Halloween. Each year, on the 31st of October, we came to school, not as students in search of education, but as witches, ghosts, cowboys, and pirates in search of a wonderful time. Although theoretically the main object was to scare everyone else, nobody was cowed. Instead, we had a fine time deciding who was peering out at us from under each mask. It always turned out that the persons with the simplest costumes were the hardest to identify. The ghosts, with merely a white sheet over them, could only be detected by a process of elimination. The parade through the school was fun, but we suspected that the “high school people enjoyed it more than we did. It goes without saying that the parties after the parades were enjoyed by all of us. Then, in the evening, we ventured forth to go “tricks or treating. The ironic part of this was that we usually secured all the treats, while the older boys played all the tricks. The Mother's Club, meaning well, tried to curb the vandalism by giving us a party at night. However, we weren’t the most unselfish people in the w'orld, and we preferred to make the rounds of the villagers and collect a bagful of goodies, rather than spend an hour standing in line in the school hall; waiting to have our costumes judged. These, of course, are isolated examples of the pleasant memories we have of these early years. Naturally, our most vivid recollection is of the ordinary school life, with our teachers developing in us the traits we needed to progress in school and life. In 1948, we started in Junior High. We had long ago left the stage when we looked up to our teachers as gods. Instead, we had a fine time trying to become mischievous prototypes of Tom Sawyer or Thomas Bailey Aldrich. In the Seventh Grade, we became “businessmen for a week. In our math class, all of us started “businesses, carried on cutthroat advertising campaigns, had price wars, and, in general, had a wonderful time learning the intricacies of the business world. Our Eighth Grade year will always be outstanding in our memories because of the election. We had a political campaign for the class offices that any political party could be proud of. After several weeks, our candidates were nominated, our speeches were made, and the election was over. Then the new officers swung into action with such popular measures as dues, fines for chewing gum, etc. Of course, we'll never forget the cannasta parties that year. And we started our practice of thinking up money-making schemes, which characterized our entire high school career. Finally, we entered high school. With much anticipation, and a little foreboding, we un- dertook the payoff for our previous eight years' efforts. As a group, we began planning for a trip in our Senior year. I suppose Miss Hasselback, now Mrs. Flannagan, our Freshman advisor, and Coach Pate, our Sophomore advisor, will never have any trouble recalling our noisy class meetings. Our innumerable food sales and vie dances brought in money, extremely slowly. A friendly rivalry developed between our class and the Class of '53 over money-making privileges.

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Steve Burns Football 3, 4; Wres- tling 3, 4; Track 3. Kathleen Murphy “Murph” Girl Scouts 1, 2; Bowl- ing 2, 3; Soccer 2, 4; Basketball 2. Richard Heald “Dick” Senior Play 4; news- reel 4; Class Vice Pres- ident 3; Student Coun- cil 2, 4; Intramural 3; Bachelor’s Club 3, 4; Boys’ Playday I, 3, 4; Football 2, 3, 4; Base- ball 1, 2, 3, 4; Basket- ball 1, 2, 3, 4; Track 1,2,3, 4.

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By this time, most of us had long before discovered the opposite sex, and this was a period of adjusting to the new scheme of things. The spectacle at most dances of the girls dancing with each other while the boys had bull sessions at the side became common. It took quite a while for us to discover that our desires were mutual. Our upperclass years are the most memorable of all. The ponderous history assignments, the fascination of working in the science lab, the fascination of doing English grammar lessons, the debates in English and history class; all these are unforgettable. Our activities during this period were extensive. Many of the boys went out for the varsity sports, while the girls kept pace by being cheerleaders. However, we developed other interests, too. A few of the boys were charter members of the Bachelor’s Club. Several girls revived the girl’s sextet. As a class, we had many activities. Miss Reed, our Junior advisor, and Mrs. Howard, our Senior advisor, were often kept busy helping us with our projects. Our Senior play, “Tons of Money,” its many phases of learning, rehearsing, and performing, was compellingly interesting for us. At first, there were tons of lines to be learned. Later, when we could recite them with a reasonable degree of proficiency, we struggled through many re- hearsals. Finally, the day of the performance arrived. It has its tense moments! We’ll never forget the agonizing moments we experienced when that firecracker refused to go off in the first act. Two attitudes were characteristic of our class throughout high school. First, as a matter of pride, we wanted anything done in our name to be the best. Second, we could see no reason why we should carry out our projects in the same way they “always had been done.” We believed that we had reached the stage where we could carry out our activities without detailed guidance in every minute phase. Sometimes, these characteristics caused trouble between us and the faculty. Usually they resulted in improved quality in our activities. For our Junior Prom, we hired an excellent orchestra, (Nick Sterio’s). We spent so much time preparing the decora- tions that we hated to see them torn down. For our Christmas Ball in our Senior year, we hired Fred Bastian and his Orchestra, who did a marvelous job for us. And, in the publishing of this yearbook, we have tried to make it as interesting as possible by using several new ideas. Thus, by doing things a little better, or a little differently, we feel that we have added something to the traditions of the school. Now, with graduation nearly upon us, having gradually learned to accept responsibility and to make our own decisions, we stand ready to tackle the problems of maturity; again “with much anticipation, and a little foreboding.”