Fordham University School of Education - Grail Yearbook (New York, NY)

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Only God is without change. Nothing else remains static. The essential note of all human activity is either progression or retrogression. ln the course of our lives, we have become aware of certain profound transformations that now and then occur in our personalities. Per- haps, the most subtle and far-reaching of these was experienced during our stay at Fordham. Four years is a remarkably short period when compared with time, itself. lt loses al- most all meaning considered in reference to timeless eternity. Yet four years can have great significance in the lifetime of an individual but only in relation to the change that occurs in that period. lt would be false to assert that every one of us has experienced vast and profoundly signifi- cant spiritual transformations as a result of his four years at Fordham. Some of us have Queen Anne I. I 1 A i 1 undergone few, if any, changes in our person- alities during this time. Some have experienced profound changes, in spite of these four years. Yet most of us have, in varying degrees, be- come aware of great and signifcant personal transformations as a result of our education at Fordham. Vtfe had brought to 302 Broadway, certain basic capacities for thinking, feeling and will- ing. Leaving Fordham, we take with us these same characteristics, but so subtly and radi- cally transformed, sublimated, crystallized and enriched by this culminaton of our Catholic education that we who have undergone the metamorphis are scarcely aware of our original endowment. At no period in our progress through the School of Education was change more manifest than in our sophomore year. As freshmen, we had been merely continuing the educational processes of our youth. lt was in reality a per- iod of transformation, different in some re- spects from secondary education, yet basically the same. By the end of second year we had made our first progress into higher education. Attitudes were changed. New outlooks on study, new concepts and judgments, opinions and values arose for the first time in many of our lives to shatter the formerly cherished illusory system of thought and moral evalua- tion we had clung to as youths. We began to have reason for the Faith that was in us. Sophomore year saw our first formal intro- duction to that great stream of intellectual tradition that, springing from Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, amplified, magnified and Chris- tianized by Augustine, Scotus and Aquinas, has been inherited by the Maritains, Gilsons and Adlers of our day. Through it, we first fully awoke to the existence of the eternal unchange- ables of our world of change. We first began to know that, however obscure, complex and elusive they were, some partial answers were still to be had for the great enigmas that peri- odically arise to confuse and dismay whole generations of mankind. Arising to an aware- ness of the problems and mysteries of man, existence, truth and God, we sought to probe deeper into their depths, to discover, if pos- sible, some rational solution to the ever present chaos of our erring generation through an in- creasing awareness of the order and serenity of essential being. We approached Truth. Nor was change an exclusive property of our inner selves. Returning in September we discovered, to our surprise, that much of our in ze 1'! 'm

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Three girls on a horse... . . . more ofthe same. Then came the All School Affair. This was a rather young tradition at the' time, being but a year old. Called Campus Candids , it was dedicated to Dr. Francis M. Crowley, on the occasion of his tenth anniversary as Dean of the School of Education. lt was held April l7th. Sponsored by the Student Council for the entire school, the second annual All School Affair was effectively dominated by freshmen. We boasted of our Freshman chorus line that included Marge Zlovsky, Peggy Waldron, .loan Schlinkert, Eileen O'Donnell, Rita Casey and other gorgeous dancers. Frank Dance culmi- nated his corridor and classroom parlor magic with a complete act of his own. Ray Connolly, in a raccoon coat generously supplied by an unknown friend, gave a heart-rendering ap- peal on behalf of the oppressed Yaks of outer Mongolia. On Ascension Thursday, we clambered a- board a fleet of sleek, silvery busses, solicit- ously provided at fifteen dollars apiece by the Campus Coach Company and proceeded to Bear Mountain for the annual Freshman Out- ing. Temporarily foregoing the comforts of the Bear Mountain Inn, we proceeded to the Ath- letic field where the stalwarts of section 'C' met and were defeated by a coalition of erst- while softball players from the other classes, 24 to Zi. The playing was sparked by the home run hitting of Ed Murphy and the throwing arm of Bill Howley. After the athletic festivities were over the girls took the field and romped disjointedly through another contest to the evident amusement of the bystanders. Male jealousies were aroused at the athletic prowess of Dot Michaelis, an expatriate from the class of '48 who acted as Miss Scanlon's aide de camp that year. Boatriding, picnicing, square dancing and horseback riding followed. Lois Johnson fell off her slowly ambling steed to round out a perfect day. ln a final burst of camaraderie we nearly ate Mr. Collins out of house and home at his picnic in May. Then came another round of the Blue Book Blues which most of us were singing around exam time. Then, after a wild Sal Scarecrow. Grin and bear it. burst of celebration, much copying down of addresses and hearty farewells, we left school for the summer vacation. We had completed one year of college. We had set a pattern that was to be followed throughout our next three years and thereafter throughout our lives. For, underneath all the gaiety and fun of our happy experiences, we had recognized the growth of a spirit of unity and fellowship. Divorced from the oversentimentalized, romantic reminiscences of comradeship and unity, it took the form of deep and at times almost unconscious appreciation of what we were receiving as Catholic College students. Knowing that in a sense we are not unique, it is comforting to realize that all Catholic stu- dents share in this spirit. This unity or feeling of a collective purposiveness is difficult to define. lt may derive from the experiences we shared. Perhaps it arose out of the friendships or even the antipathies we formed for one an- other. But, however it originated, we first became aware of its existence in our Freshman year. This spirit or feeling can be explained in terms of an increased desire to know, to do, to love and to share. lt is the spirit of Christianity as applied to education. For this gaining we are eternally thankful to Fordham. There were many reasons why we came to Fordham. Some came for amusement, some for study, others because they were sent. Al- though some of our expectations were unful- filled, although some of our motives are inadequate we continued at the School of Education, despite tremendous physical short- comings, lack of space for a full extracurricular program, schedule difficulties, wierd hours, hasty meals, shrieking fire sirens and high school student riots, because we have found full and complete compensations for these difficulties in a truly wonderful teaching staff, our mutual associations and the sense of pride and achievement that comes from overcoming great obstacles in our search for a Christian answer to the great problems we face.

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N9 Put another nickel in . . . physical surroundings had changed. The entire building had received a new coat of paint. Shealy Hall had been converted by a movable partition into two classrooms. The Thalian Theatre had emerged from the wreck of room 609 and the library had had a glass partition installed to separate the call desk from the main reading room. The Registrar's office and the Curved Horn Sanctuary were now fluores- cently lit. Perhaps the most far-reaching physical innovations took place in the elevator shafts and in the lounge. Gone were the openwork continental-style lifts. New steel-enclosed cars paid their re- pects to modernity and the fire regulations. No more were we to enjoy the stirring rush hour races with their hastily organized betting pools. The hurried inter-elevator conversational snatches which we had formerly enjoyed were banished from our lives. The lounge, too, had experienced the ar- rival of the era of machinery. Despite the fulminations of Mr. Grace against our modern gimmick culture, vending machines had come to the School of Ed. Row upon row of bright varicolored gadgets greeted our marvel- ling eyes, solicited our nickels and provided a constant source of reference material for wry comments on the commercialism of the modern age on the part of a few of our compatriots. The lady in the bookstore and her cohorts winced before the massed onrush of those who were unprovided with change and replied in the negative to their earnest pleas. A few of the more astute found a solution to the adamant Miss Kavanagh by purchasing a nickel's worth of blue books with a five dollar bill. 27 You don't get change with three blue books E