Framingham North High School - Archon Yearbook (Framingham, MA)

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jAls we, the Class of 1989, look back on our four years at Framingham North High School, we reflect on the influences, cir- cumstances, and ideas that have caused us to change our thinking or to re-establish our values. We recall the decisions we have made — academic and nonacademic, good and bad — and we see how all the choices we have made in the last four years have affected our standing here — on the brink of a new horizon. We can see in our- selves the shadows of who we were when, back on the very first day of our freshman year, we stood on the last threshold of public education. Since then, we have been exposed to the ideas and insights of many people, and perhaps this has caused us to change our perspective on life — and on things in general. Perhaps we have learned the lesson of needing to be unique, different, or even just plain weird in order to get to know ourselves better. Hopefully, this is one lesson we will never forget, because whether we will go on to college or directly into the work force, we will be freshmen again. We stand at this crossroad called Graduation, and we are both scared and over- whelmed. However, there is one difference to be found in what we were as freshmen and what we are now, and that is four years — of learning, growing, thinking, decid- ing, and changing. Today we share that common bond, and even if that fear of the future begins to take hold, we know, somewhere in the back of our minds and the bottom of our hearts, that we will succeed in whatever choice we make at this crossroad. Up until now, we have all been on the same road, but now we shall each decide our own conclusion to, Two roads diverged in a wood and I, I took the one ...

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MR. JOHN R. SHAUGHNESSY We, as a class, would like to dedicate the 1989 Archon to John R. Shaughnessy, known to those close to him as Jack. Mr. Shaughnessy began his teaching careet in 1964 as a science teacher at the Lincoln Junior High School in Framingham. In 1969, he was transferred to the William S., Walsh Middle School, where many of us first came to know him. In 1984, one year before we became freshmen, Mr. Shaughnessy came to North to teach math. As most of us know, Mr. Shaughnessy dedicated much of his life to his students and to his friends. Not only was he a great teacher, but he was also a concerned friend and role model to many of his students. Through his example, we learned that there was nothing that we could not overcome. In his classroom, there was never a dull moment or a day when he didn ' t succeed in bringing a smile to our faces and brightening our day. He really wanted his students to do well in his class, and he tried any and every way to get his point across: colored chalk, huge diagrams, posters hung up around the room; once he even drew a diagram on the back of the door. He always had something up his sleeve, be it a witty remark or a joke, and he was never afraid to speak his mind. Over the past four years, many teachers have influenced our lives, but perhaps not with the same kind of patience and caring as did our friend, Mr. Shaughnessy. We miss him more than words can express, but all of us will always carry in our hearts the vivid memories that he has left us. You ' ve touched my heart, without even knowing . . . You ' ve helped my life in so many ways . . . I never had the chance to tell you how good a friend you were . . . When you were here, life was so cheerful . . . You made me laugh, and we laughed together . . . I know you are out there somewhere watching me, like true friends really do . . . You ' ve inspired me to many greatnesses, and changed many of my weaknesses . . . You ' ve made me realize how unfair life is . . . Life was taken away and I don ' t know why . . . I just wish you didn ' t die . . . I can ' t find a reason for why you are gone . . . But now you are somewhere, where you belong . . . So with these final words I say . . . Thank you for being there on all those days . . . Wherever you are, I wish you well . . . I know you were a true friend . . . I say goodbye now with my pen but not, so long, my friend ... I know we will meet again . . . I just know . . . IN MEMORY OF MY FRIEND JACK SHAUGHNESSY JON DAVID ZIBEL October 11, 1988 26