Agawam High School - Sachem Yearbook (Agawam, MA)

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Class Song Regretfully we say good-bye On this commencement day. Though “Here endeth; Here beginneth.’’ We’ll miss our school life gay. So onward, sons of Agawam, Bear forth unto the shrine The torch that stands for high ideals For all of Thirty-Nine. Most happy hours and joyous days In Agawam we’ve seen. And we have found In things renowned Our school stands far supreme. So bear ye forth the torch once more And ra:se it to the sky And pledge again true loyalty To this. Our Ag’wsm High. Words: Evelyn Gardner Music: Norma Colli Class Poem EXCELSIOR We scaled and climbed, And still we climb. The course emerging high Into the jagged massive cliff's That blur the flaming sky. Lightly we sweep From steep To steep; The flag of youth we fly. We tramp and trail Where hills uplift; The winds are wild and strong, And dreary days of drizzling rain Are like some phantom song. But our pathway gleams With glints Of dreams; Our faith cannot be wrong. We scaled and climbed And still we climb Some lofty mountain slope. Through storm and stress and bitterness Our upward way we grope To view the past And claim The vast Tomorrow with our hope! Irene Ann Mulak

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TARNUZZER, MARTHA Liberty Street, Feeding Hills “Babe” Class assembly 2; Sophomore Party Committee; Hockey 2; Tri-Hi 3, 4; Prom Committee; Kid Party Committee; Class Color Committee; Mirror Staff 4; Student Council 4. “A sweet personality full of rascality.” TURNER, BARBARA 350 North Westfield Street, Feeding Hills “Barb” (Entered September 1938) “We like her friendly smile.” WATERBURY, JANET 12 Edward Street, Agawam “Jan” Cabaret Committee; Prom Committee; Sophomore Party Committee; Hockey 2; International Relations Club 1, 2; Speakers’ Club 3, 4; Tri- Hi 3, 4; Maytime Concert 3, 4; Usher 3, 4; Dramatic Club 4; Mirror Staff 4. “Such a happy, carefree girl.” WILSON, NEIL 1186 River Road. Agawam Student Council 4. “A diller a dollar, a ten o’clock scholar.” WINTER. NORMA-JANE 12 Federal Street, Agawam Pro Merito; Class assembly 2; Sophomore Party Committee; Speakers’ Club 2; Operetta; Mirror Staff 3, 4; Usher 2, 3; Maytime Concert 2, 3; Junior Marshal; Cabaret Committee; Tri-Hi 3, 4, Secretary 4; Contest Play 4; Prom Committee; Year Book Committee; Kid Party Commit- tee; Class Picture Committee. Pretty to look at and lovely to know.” ZIELINSKI, MITCHELL Silver Street. Agawam “Mitch” Pro Merito; Class assembly 2; Class President 2, 3, 4; Speakers’ Club 2. 3, 4. President 3. 4; Oratorical Contest 2, 3, 4; Christmas Play 3; Camera Club 3, 4, Curator 4; Track 4; Hi-Y 4, President 4. “He was capable of doin everything well.” SMITH, JEANNETTE C. Wilson Street, Feeding Hills Class assembly 2; Sophomore Party Committee; Usher 2, 3; Speakers’ Club 2, 3, 4, Secretary 3, Oratorical Contest 3; Cabaret Committee; Prom Committee; Dramatic Club 4; Tri-Hi 3, 4; Maytime Concert 2; Senior Play Committee. “I’ll speak in a monstrous little voice.” STEELE, DOROTHY E. 927 Main Street, Agawam “Dot” Class assembly 2; Maytime Concert 2; Cabaret Committee; Senior Play Committee; Mirror Staff 3, 4; Speakers’ Club 4; Tri-Hi 3, 4. “Humble because of knowledge, mighty by sacrifice.” STYNER, GEORGIANNA 148 Walnut Street, North Agawam “Gan” Sophomore Party Committee; Operetta 1; International Relations’ Club 2, Secretary; Tri-Hi 3; Maytime Conceit 3; Cabaret Committee; Prom Committee; Usher 3; Basketball 1, 3; Senior Play; Mirror Staff 3, 4; Dramatic Club 4; Class Banquet Committee. “A fair exterior is a silent recommendation.” SUBOTIN, ZOAFIA 1141 Main Street, Agawam “Zoaf” Basketball 1, 2, 3, 4; Baseball 1, 2, 3, 4; Hockey 1, 2. 3, 4; Volleyball 1. 2, 3, 4; Class assembly 2; Prom Committee; Cabaret Committee; Maytime Concert 3; Mirror Staff 4; Usher 4. “A smile and a good word everywhere she goes.” TALMADGE, M. PRISCILLA Oak Hill Avenue, North Agawam Basketball 2; Hockey 2; Volleyball 1, 2; International Relations Club 2; Usher 3; Prom Committee; Kid Party Committee; Tri-Hi 3; Dra- matic Ciub 4; Senior Play. “Studies are my lightest burden.” TARDO, ELEANOR Silver Street, Feeding Hills “Nora” Tri-Hi 3; Usher 2. 3; Cabaret Committee; Maytime Concert 2, 3. “The secret of success is constancy to purpose.”

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President’s Address of Welcome Friends of the Agawam High School: In opening these, our Class Night Exercises, I wish to extend to each one of you a most hearty welcome from the Class of 1939. Every member of the graduating class will agree with me when I say that we are very different tonight from what we were four years agv . Since that time we have grown, not only physically, but also mentally, and socially. Now. we have reached the culmination of this four years' development—a high school diploma. However, wc realize that the growth begun here is not complete, for education is a life process. Wr are eager to go on to new fields of endeavor, but mingled with that eagerness is a feeling of reluctance as we leave this school where we have spent many profitable hours and formed lastng friendships. We wish to thank Mr. Phelps, Mr. Dacey, the school committee, and the faculty for their perceptive guidance and supervision. Our utmost thanks, however, we give to you. our parents and the taxpayers, who have sacrificed to provide these unsurpassed educational facilities. In return we assure you that we shall strive to reflect credit on Agawam by being intelligent, constructive citizens. Oration In 1789, George Washington made a laborious journey over bumpy, muddy roads from Mt. Vernon to New York to be inaugurated as the first president of the United States. He was executive of a nation of some 3,000,000 people in a vast country of over 800.000 square miles reaching frem the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River. New York City was a thriving metropolis of 30,000 people, and in the whole country there were only twelve communities with a population of 5,000—less than the present population of Agawam. Tlmre was not a public high school in the land. Rut as soon as the most pressing governmental problems had been solved, foresighted leaders saw the need in a democratic country for education—education for all the people, even those who could not afford it. In 1827. Massachusetts, always a leader in education, enacted a law requiring every town of 500 families or over to provide a high school. Zealous men like Horace Mann devoted their lives to establishing and maintaining high schools in our state. , Events in the last few years, notably in Germany, Italy, and Russia, have demon- strated how important the leaders of those countries feel the schools are to govern- ment. All books differing from their political creeds are fed to bonfires, and the schools are used to foster the ideology of the group in power by preaching ihe doctrine that man exists for the state. The people arc impressed by the direct efficiency of their leader, and. even though he may interfere with their personal happiness, they are still contented with fhat form of government because they have been taught that no other form can insure their existence. Hence, the individual becomes a “cog in the wheel” with set rules of conduct, and little opportunity for self-advancement. In n democracy, on the other hand, the situation is entirely reversed. Here, the state exists for the man, and each individual is responsble for the functioning of the government. To perform, his duty intelligently, the citizen must be educated. Robert Hutchins of the University of Chicago says that the aim of education is “to produce citizens who are capable of achieving happiness, and of making a contribu- tion to the common good. To do this we must help them acquire the moral and intel- lectual habits that happiness and the common good demand.” “The common good” means that the citizen has a social responsibility. He must be educated to select Qualified representatives to carry on the government. He must be able to see through propaganda, to differentiate the false from the true. He must know how to use property and preserve intelligently his priceless liberties and rights. Then, too. in no