Billerica Memorial High School - BMHS Yearbook (Billerica, MA)

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Superintendent and Staff Mrs. Lyons Miss Dole 25

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You have now completed a giant step toward success. You have been trained to make sound judgments. However, knowing what is right does not lead you to pursue what is right. The fact that man knows right from wrong proves his intellec- tual superiority to other creatures; but the fact that he can do wrong proves his moral inferiority. Lack of courage is the cause of our moral inferi- ority. Have the courage of your convictions and live up to your ideals. Frederick C. Riel Superintendent of Schools To the Class of 1966: First let me offer my congratulations to the graduat- ing class of 1966. The successful completion of your high school education is a mark of which you may be justly proud. But more than the pride you feel, the challenge you now face is so exciting as to cause envy within me. The spirit of American youth, which was torched by our late martyred President John F. Kennedy and contin- ues to glow throughout the night at Arlington National Cemetery as a constant reminder, has been asked to better the world. No greater challenge has ever been issued. No greater response has ever been given. Yes, the invitation extended to our youth and ac- cepted by so many causes me envy. As youth fades, the realization comes fast that the world belongs to the young. I have envy but my confidence is great. William H. Flaherty, Jr. Assistant Superintendent of Schools 24

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SCHOOL — a time of joy; a period of inaccessible goals, often attained but in the imagination dreaded and feared; hopes and ambitions flashing across the screen of the mind ever changing, ever altering, ever varying to the emotional framework in its reaction to the multiple stimuli of such indefinable conditions as success, security, ideals, and affluence. PRESSURES — ever mounting; seldom ceasing; yet in the interim time out for football, baseball, basketball, hockey, track, cross country with their thrills for the school spirit minded student; the dances, the clubs, the social functions with their important part in the pattern of every day school life; and the vacillation that all students experience in preparing for the future, for positions, for further education. EPILOGUE — graduation, the commencement of true education; the realization of the inestimable value of a general knowledge that cannot be measured by dollars and cents; the backward look; the vow that if school, this entire experience, were to be repeated in retro- spect, what a different result, what a regrouping of resources, to encounter all these advantages to the full. Chester D. Ingraham Principal Much has been expected of you young men and of you young women during your four years as students at Billerica Memorial High School. During these years you have been a part of a proper educational environ- ment at school and you have benefited by the wisdom and the guidance of your parents at home. Your teach- ers and your parents have earnestly endeavored to guide, instruct, and prepare you for the day when you must form your own judgments, unreservedly and fear- lessly, without friendly counsel. Soon you will transcend the security of home and of school and embark upon a new course in which you alone will be required to ponder and select those con- cepts which represent what is best for you and for humanity. Do not be influenced by imprudent opinion, relativism of thought, or unsubstantiated theories how- ever popular. Cling tenaciously to your principles, base your assents upon evidence, and accept nothing with- out a reason. You have a future which many young people in many lands may dream of but can never attain. Enter it confidently and strive in your every action to make it even better for those who will follow you. J. D. Nuttall Vice-Principal 26