Billings West High School - Westward Yearbook (Billings, MT)

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The events during the past school year have opened the eyes of many West Highers and made them better citizens with a deeper feeling for their country and for their fellowman. The assassination of President John F. Kennedy was, of course, the foremost event. This was truly a great loss to all mankind. But such tragedies tend to knit a country and its people closer together, and may even mature the present younger generations, making them realize they must prepare honestly and energetically for their future in tomorrow. Everything around us is not roses. Sooner or later reality must be faced. This year in particular the realization struck home hard. There are people who are forced to endure tragedies, and there are those who are deprived of the privileges and luxuries many of us take for granted. These people are found not just in one city or state but throughout the United States. Integration and slum areas, for instance, pose two nationally known problems. We ask ourselves what we can do. Yet down deep many of us do not care, simply because we kid ourselves that it doesn’t affect us. Perhaps it does not affect us directly, but indirectly it has a great effect on the country’s welfare, just as does the ever-present threat of nuclear warfare. And yet of more significance is the world- wide war for men’s minds which is so real, yet so hard for us to grasp in our comfortable, often too-complacent middle- class society. Education plays an important part in preparing young and old for a brighter, more fulfilling future. Through education students are shown the way to intelligent discrimination, realistic ethical codes, and reasonable introspection. Teachers try objectively to point out the right paths for students to follow without being too overbearing. But true, this does not always help us in facing reality and in preparing for the shocks and tragedies we have been sheltered from all our lives. It takes a combination of tragedies, education, self- understanding, and the experience of happiness to prepare each and every one of us for the life ahead. I 4

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I One of the biggest events of the year was home- coming. This was the first for West High, and from this year on will be an annual event. The general theme for this year’s homecoming was School Daze. Services clubs throughout the school prepared weeks in advance before the big day—October 26. The parade was a combined activity with Senior High. There was a fifty-dollar prize given to the club with the winning float from each school. The float themes ranged from French Club’s Eiffel Tower to the winning float We’re the Bee Behind the Bear” prepared by B.A.C. and Jaybees, demonstrating the school spirit and sup- port shown by the teachers and students. »Wv - V. 1 «U1MIII