Coopersville High School - Zenith Yearbook (Coopersville, MI)

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SALUTATORY C) our teachers, relatives, and friends, we, the graduating class of 1921, extend a hearty welcome. We wish to thank you for the cordial and appreciative interest you have shown in our High School exercises and we ask you for the continuance of the same. We have come to the end of our four years of high school life and although we have looked forward to this time with eager anticipation, when the time drew near this joy was mingled with sadness as we realized that for us these happy school days with their pleasant association will ever he bright spots in the book of memory and the friendships formed there will never be forgotten. We have worked together in unison as teachers and pupils and although sometimes little discords arose, taken as a whole, harmony has prevailed. During our high school course the world outside has been in a state of turmoil. In these years we have not only studied of war, but have seen the effects of war on our own country. We have seen the boys in khaki, at their country’s call, sail across the sea to France on a mission from which many never returned, but died for their homeland. We have also seen the need of the starving children of Europe and have given to them of our abundance. We have seen the stirring examples of patriotism and have learned how to become one hundred per cent Americans and useful American citizens. The World War made an appeal to everybody and conscripted every Ameri- can, but the call for men that was sent out only allowed those who had a strong body to go to the front. Thus in our high school life we have tried to cultivate not only our minds, hut by means of healthful recreation, to keep our bodies so fit that we could go to the front if the call should come to us. In any business enterprise, too, the weaker must give way to those physically and morally stronger. We are now in the midst of the period of reconstruction. The World War has ended but the whole country is now struggling to bring itself once more to normal conditions, but many are too impatient to wait for this time and are trying to take matters into their own hands. The trend of education now is to make the youth better acquainted with the prevailing conditions and to give every child a chance to fit himself to earn his livelihood under better circumstances. We, standing at the parting of ways, at the first cross roads of life, must each do our share in this trying period. We each have a call to get ready to do our part in making a greater America. Each of us must try to shoulder a part of life’s responsibilities and be useful Americans. To do this we must follow and practice the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would that they should do unto you.” The pupils who are planning to enter High School this year or in the follow- ing years will never regret the step they are about to take. They, too, by means of patient planning, will climb though the rocks be rugged, will reach their goal and sometime occupy the places we hold tonight. Just as when a person return- Page Twelve

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CLASS BALLAD Here’s the class of ’21, Merrily did the Sophomores cry it As we straggled one by one, Slowly, ’neath the blazing sun, Each fearing for a riot. Fearfully, we kept advancing When a path was opened wide, And we surely felt like singing As aside, we caution flinging, Hurried to the teacher’s side. Then began a year of sorrows. Filled with many a weary race; And we feared the coming morrows, Feared them and their awful hours With the sophomores’ hated face. Finally that year was ended, And we offered prayers of thanks. As our homeward way we wended, For the teachers, they had granted. Sanction that we might advance. Oh! that summer how we figured. When we gained our own revenge; How the school yard would be littered And the freshman’s peace be fritered By our wishes to avenge. Yet, that fall when school was gath- ered. And the one great year had come. Then it was our joy was shattered So completely nothing mattered, I.ife was taken from our fun. For our luck was all against, us, And the freshmen were quite happy; Oh ! they surely felt victorious At the way that they had fooled us Into missing their first party. Still that year to us was pleasant, Filled with many a happy hour, For our thoughts were then more dis- tant Than they now are, in the present, Of our choice of a career. When our second year was finished And we had gained our earned reward. By our pride were we distinguished Which they might have had dimin- ished. And not left us very poor. W e fulfilled our one ambition And entered on our closing year, W hen we must make preparation For our final separation At the close of school life here. Gaily we attacked our studies, Ready for a banner year. And we took up all our duties, With their work and hard earned booties Joyously, without a fear. Now our life at school is ended. W’e have finished every task And our minds are quite contented With the thought which all have granted, That we gave our very best. Tomorrow is the future, In which we have to prove our worth; And the fields in which we venture, F'or the seeking of their treasure, Are for us untrodden earth. Charles Westover, '21. Page Eleven

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ing from a long journey tells of the good time he had and retraces it again in his thoughts, so we, in the coming years, will speak to everyone of tlie pleasure of high school and wish we could relive the happy days we spent in the Coopersville High S chool. So whether our inclinations call us to college, school-room, office or farm, let 11s always try to reflect honor and glory on the old Coopersville High School, and to show our parents and teachers that the time we spent there was not spent in vain, and quoting Longfellow, say: “Let us, then, he up and doing, With a heart for any fate; Still achieving, still pursuing. Learn to labor and to wait.” Helen Busman, 21. Page Thirteen