Elmhurst College - Elms Yearbook (Elmhurst, IL)

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A COLLEGE IN THE MAKING New structures and institutions, as well as new life are not born without travail. The building of the New Union Station in Chicago a few years ago was the topic of daily conversation for thousands of commuters who watched the progress of the project. The engineers in charge of the undertaking were faced with the arduous task of not only giving embodiment to a dream which they had conceived but of building new tracts of new levels while they kept existing traffic in full operation. It was a problem of sympathy, sympathy with the needs of the future so that adequate facilities for the years to come might be supplied, sympathy with the existing plan which although inadequate and obsolete they would keep going with as little interruption as possible until gradually replaced by the new. Many parts of the work had to be carried on under unusual risks and with extra- ordinary difficulties. It would have been easier could traffic have been suspended while the new station was being prepared. With few exceptions, all social, educational and religious re-building must be undertaken under similar conditions. The task which the faculty and the ad- ministrative officers of Elmhurst have been and still are facing is that of keeping things going at their best while at the same time planning and preparing things as they ought to be. Adore concretely their task has been that of fitting students as completely and thoroughly as possible for Christian life and service; of nur- turing and developing their intellectual, moral, and spiritual capacities, by broad- ening their outlook, developing their understanding, quickening their zeal and love of truth and social justice by a more intimate contact with Him who is ' ' The Way, the Truth, and the Life . ■ At the same time it has been necessary not only to keep abreast with the most significant developments in the fields of educational theory, but also to adapt and to develop the methods and technique whereby those objectives in character development for which Elmhurst has always stood could be best realized and made accessible to an increasing number of students. Only those who plan ever realize a better future. It is our desire that Elmhurst shall develop into a quality school which will not only conform to the usual stan- dards prevailing in liberal arts colleges but in the course of time make its own contribution in the field of real scholarship. This does not mean a break with the traditions of the past which have given Elmhurst a definite character, but if possible a fuller and more extensive development of the heritage which we have received from the past. With the conferring of the first Bachelor of Arts degrees Elmhurst College became a reality. We feel no need of offering apologies, either for the imper- fections which an institution in the making may disclose to the critical eye of an expert, or for the absence of qualities which come with age. On the contrary in all humility we are proud of our growing and developing school and trust that all alumni and friends of Elmhurst, to whom the institution belongs in a more real sense than to those of us who are engaged in its work, may also come to share with us this feeling and help us to make real the Elmhurst of the future. Theophil W. Mueller, Dean. 30