Balmoral Hall School - Optima Anni Yearbook (Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada)

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T I I3 MY FIRST YEAR AT BALMORAL HALL On the first day of school everybody was very excited because Balmoral Hall was opening for its first year. At prayers we all looked very funny as we didn't have any uniform. Then there was the task of choosing a Head Girl for the school. There were a number of girls nominated, and 'lohanne Vifintemute was the girl chosen. Next we chose a school Sports Captain- janet Bleeks. These girls were given cords to wear to show their office. Soon we had grey tunics with white shirts but no ties as yet. After that we chose prefects, who were also given green cords. We received our green ties and then our grey blouses. After that we made a few rules, and formed houses which we called 1, 2, 3 and 4. Then a campaign was initiated to name the houses. After a long period of thought and activity, the houses were named Braemar, Ballater, Glen Gairn and Craig Gowan. Now a school crest is being chosen. Our school motto is Meliora Petens. All these activities represent what has been done in a very short time at Balmoral Hall. The future will provide many new tasks for us. NANCY BLEEKS, fill l fliiii Wi .5 lm e l lil III. ADA RICE, Gramlc XI.

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L- -L .L THE AVERAGE STUDENT Why do we go to school at all? I have never yet found a satisfying answer to this question, but since we all spend at least eleven years of our lives in the halls of learning, it is appropriate that the bare facts of this existence be brought to light. Let us look in on an average day of an average student of Balmoral Hall, and learn some of these facts .... At some unearthly hour of the morning, per- haps seven-thirty, the average pupil is rudely awak- ened by a shout in her ear. She opens her eyes with a start, closes them again, remains in a state of semi-consciousness for some minutes, and then quietly falls alseep. She is promptly awakened for a second time by a second shout in her other ear. She then makes a valiant effort to rise and is, after some time, successful. With ten minutes to dress, eat breakfast, and leave for school, she throws on her clothes, drinks a glass of milk, and leaves on the run Qwithout hat, scarf, gloves or bootsj to catch the eight-thirty bus. Ah! After much running and waving of her arms, she has managed to arrest the attention of the bus driver Qwho very kindly has stopped the busj and is now sinking back with a sigh into the one remaining seat. QHow luckylj She is looking at her watch. Whatl? She is going to be late. Well, never mind, she will have thought of a feasible excuse by the time she reaches school, for after all she is an average student! Morning lessons have begun, and the average student is seen sitting in her average desk with a look of average intelligence on her average face. Now she is being asked to translate some French, and with a wild look at the blank face of her neighbor, she rises and begins stumbling desper- ately through the paragraph. Alas, she is not suc- cessful. She will be given extra homework for her efforts. English class is now in progress. She likes English and spends an enjoyable thirty-tive min- utes learning grammar. What now? Algebra. She has forgotten to do her homework. Another lot of extra work descends upon her. Recess arrives and the average student is off like a shot to get her milk and doughnut in the milk and biscuit room. No sooner is she munch- ing happily than a bell rings and she must go back to class. Her History has not been learned and her Chemistry problems have been forgotten. This must surely be one of her bad days, but no, it is an average day. The ring of a bell announces the lunch hour, commonly known as the noon hour, but incor- rectly so, since it doesn't begin until twenty to one. The average student rushes madly downstairs and lines up in the corridor with the rest of the mob. Lunch over, she goes for a walk, dropping in at the store on the way to buy a chocolate bar. She returns to school and joins in the singing at the piano. At ten minutes past two the average student is seen returning to the classroom for afternoon les- sons. Once more she sits in her average desk and pays average attention to what is going on around her. She wears a sad, weary expression on her face, which is made even sadder and wearier tif that is possiblej by the realization that she must endure a Biology class. Suddenly her interest is aroused. The Biology class is to be spent in the lab, look- ing at things through a microscope. She makes her way with her lab coat over her arm, thinking that perhaps a change of scenery will be invigorat- ing. She is sadly mistaken, for she returns from the lab in worse condition than when she went. It has been too much for her average brain. The thought of Geometry doesn't revive her, and a second History period is the last straw. Four o'clock has come and gone and the aver- age student is putting on her running shoes for a basketball game. What jolly fun! The game is over by live o'clock and at quarter to six she is wending her way toward the bus stop, a huge pile of books in her arms and a bus ticket clenched tightly in her teeth. When at last the bus arrives, it is filled to the door. She only just manages to get inside. Will she never get home? Yes, even- tually she crawls into the house, just in time for dinner for was she perhaps a little late?j Ah! How nice to get some food inside her. She feels she could fall asleep immediately, but there are dishes to be done, and after dishes- homework. Yes, there is always homework, stacks of it every night for this poor, average student. Will the day never end? Oh what heaven to climb into bed and do nothing but sleep, sleep, sle-e-ep. . . . The curtain falls gently on the Drama of the Average Student . SALLY DANGERFIELD, Grade XI. I hear your daughter is a deep student. She's always at the bottom of the class, if that's what you mean.

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li A GOOD REST With a tired and heavy hand, I lift my pen to write this essay entitled A Good Rest . How wonderful is the word rest ! What calm and peaceful thoughts it brings to mind. But I must not dwell too long on the word rest itself, or I shall not be able to catch my six hours sleep before school tomorrow morning. We are living in a restless age. Thousands of watches on thousands of wrists tick by the busy hours of a busy day. Students in schools and col- leges literally slave over a hard, wooden desk from nine o'clock 'till four o'clock with only a brief recess at noon for lunch. Likewise, patient teach- ers do their best to help them gain knowledge, the ever-present vision of june examinations al- ways before their eyes. Then after the school day is over, a refreshing game is all that is needed to ensure complete exhaustion for the students. Four hours of homework then complete an evening. This unfortunately is just a bare outline of a school day and does not include all the little extras . How wonderful it will be to get into University and work no longer. In all walks of life, people are working them- selves into a state of exhaustion. Office-workers are learning to type faster and faster. Everything is moving at a greater speed, cars, trains, airplanes and atomic bombs are constantly being perfected. People don't walk up escalators any more, they run! A department store on a Saturday afternoon is a perfect example of a tired, rushing mass of humanity. Women browse around the hat counter for several hours in search of apparel for a hun- dred oncoming teas which they don't want to at- tend. Finally, worn and bedraggled they push their way to the door, resolving to make do with the dozen or so hats that they already possess. How foolish it all is! As we follow the crowd out of the store at closing time, we realize that to reach our homes, we need the help of a bus. There we stand and bus after bus goes by. Oh, there's an Academy Road bus coming now. My goodness, it's not going to stop-it's already full. A Stafford bus, an Osborne bus, a Corydon bus, a Stafford bus, a Stafford bus . . . another Stafford bus. I-Iow strange! Finally after approximately three quarters of an hour, an Academy bus does come along. But it is full of tired people and goes by. Oh, well, it is only a short walk home! Tired husbands go home to their wives. The husband envies the wife. How lucky she is to be able to stay in a nice comfortable home all day and do nothing, except perhaps have her mother- in-law in to tea. Little does he realize the num- ber of dishes she has washed, the house cleaning she has done, the big washing she has done, and the two meetings and three teas she has been to that afternoon. If only we could just stop everything for one day, and rest. If only all the business offices, stores, schools and factories could all stop. Could we but see ourselves as a restless, overworked people, per- haps we could slow down our tempo of living. But that day of complete rest will never come on earth. Hospitals, doctors and nurses must carry on. These workers of mercy must always be on duty. And so the busy world goes on, day after day. With a tired and heavy hand, I close my essay, for the clock is ticking faster and faster and I simply must get six hours of sleep before morning. MARY HoPE MCINNIS, Grade XI. F AREWELL I sit and think in our classroom Of a day that will soon be here, When some of us will graduate And others leave school for the year. We'l1 miss our friends and our teachers, Whom we see now from day to day, But we will remember them dearly As we journey along life's way. DoR1s TUCKER, Grade XI. Gail: Late again, Cathy! Cathy: I got up late and only left ten minutes to dress. Gail: I can dress comfortably in that time. Cathy: Yes, I know, but I wash.