Central High School - Centralia Yearbook (Bay City, MI)

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certainly a valuable asset, because character is one of the greatest necessities in life. A man with a good character can be trusted and relied on in the work that he has to do. As the opportunities and responsibilities increase the temptations that we have to face and conquer become larger and more invincible. Thus we have to form our characters to meet these demands and to withstand the many enemies which we shall surely meet in the narrow road to success. Have we so developed our character and scholarship so that we can meet the great problems and temptations of life? Or have we passed by all these things as we traveled down the highway. They were beside the road as we journeyed, and it took only a little work to find them. No, no, we have not listlessly passed them by. God grant that we have received all the worth while things with open hands and open hearts, for if we missed any one of them we have wasted twelve years of our short lives. Now that we are graduating let us remember that everything we do. whether in college or in the business world will reflect on our Central High School. Let us not leave unfavorable marks on the wall of time for those who come after us to erase. Let us leave the honorable marks which we owe this school. Let us go out into the world and be something. Lives of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime. And. departing, leave behind us Footprints on the sands of time. Our school has done all it could to give us the best possible training. Our community has aided us by building and supporting this school. The people have cooperated in all that we have tried to do and they have helped us in everything that we did. And now we of the Senior Class of 1927 thank you all and bid farewell. —Floyd Schultz. Page 13

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« VALEDICTORY We. the Senior class of 1927, have come to the point in our lives which marks not only the end of our preparatory training, but also the commencement of our work in the world. Some of us will go on with our education. Others will go out into the business world to earn their own bread. But whatever course we choose, we must remember that the successes which we make depend largely on the successes which we have made in our high school training. Our school, our city, our state, and our country, have done everything in their power to train us as young men and women that will be a credit to our nation. God has blessed us by giving us the best country in the world. We live in the land of opportunity,, and w’e cannot fail unless wfe deliberately try to do so. Our state has helped us by forming one of the best school systems in the United States. The citizens of Bay City have encouraged and aided us by building a school which is second to none in the country. And in this school through contact with the faculty and the students we have received training in character and encouragement towards high scholarship which is indispensable to our success. As the years fly by, opportunities become more and more numerous. But, as these opportunities increase, responsibilities become greater and heavier. What equipment, mentally, physically and spiritually have we acquired to meet these heavy responsibilities? Have we found out some of the things that are necessary to meet the problems of life? Have we prepared ourselves to go out into the world and face temptations that will confront us and try to ruin us? Yes, wre have if we have trained our minds through hard study; if wre have developed staunch and strong characters. Scholarship does not mean merely high grades in school, although high grades may indicate high scholarship; but it means much more: it means the ability to do proficient work in any task that we might undertake. If wTe have attained this power we cannot possibly fail, for we then have acquired a habit w'hich we cannot readily rid ourselves of, a habit which will become stronger as the years go by, a habit of self-ccnflence, of industry, of concentration, and of forwardness. This habit, if wre may call it such, will take us over many obstacles and bring us to our goal better equipped to do the w'ork wrhich our Maker has intended for us. Scholarship also helps to form character, for the latter somewhat depends upon knowledge acquired. If scholarship helps us to form good strong characters, it is f's»«e 12

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SALUTATORY m ♦15 Graduation is the ultimate goal of all students. Graduation is the event which celebrates the attainment of that amount of success in education that allows us to proceed in an upward direction toward higher and more difficult ascents. That is the goal that we, the class of ’27 of Central High, have at this time gained. We must forever keep climbing steadily upwards or we are lost; we must always work to improve ourselves in all ways, and above all we must exert ourselves in helping those who follow in our paths. We feel exultant in our being able to climb to the height of high school graduation, but we must not sing of a success which is not wholly ours. We must stop and think. Who acted as our generals, majors, captains, lieutenants, quartermasters, and supply sergeants in our late struggle? They are those back of us in all branches of our activities; they are those who should be and who are exultant and overjoyed at our present success: they are those who are completing the second part of the duties of life by aiding us who are now doing the first duty of climbing upwards. Who are these who stand behind us and urge us on to greater efforts? They are our elders, with whom we come in contact every day; they are none other than our fathers, our mothers, our teachers, our advisors, our ministers, our neighbors, our elder friends, and in general, the whole of human society. Even our ancestors were important factors in enabling us to have the advantages that we have in the form of excellent schools, proficient teachers, good texts, efficient methods of teaching, and all the fine equipment and apparatus that we have for the development of healthy bodies and strong minds. Where would we be at this time if it were not for the guiding hands stretched out to us in a spirit of sacrificial help? Surely we would not be the proud graduating class of ’27 as we now are. So with our success and subsequent feelings of elation, joy. and happiness there must also be a deep-set. heartfelt feeling of mingled thanks, gratitude, and appreciation which should be extended to our host of benefactors and creditors. By all rules and laws of nature we must in some measure try to repay this enormous debt which rests upon our shoulders. To do this there is no better way than to go on with our work and to reach the peak of perfection in everything we undertake to do. In this way we can pay our debts, earn credit for ourselves, be examples for our followers and living memorials to the teachings of our dear old Central High. —James L. Bailey. -22