Hardwick Academy - Hardwickian Yearbook (Hardwick, VT)

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SALUTATORIAN ADDRESS Parents, religious leaders, teachers and friends: Welcome to the 1957 Commencement exercises. It is indeed a great honor to extend to you this welcome on behalf of the class of ’57. Mere, this evening we have reached the goal towards which we have striven for twelve years. It is also a time when we may thank you for the education that you have made possible for us. When we thank you for our education what do we mean? The aims to Im achieved through education are; the wise use of our leisure time, vocational training, learning to be a worthy member of our home, and a knowledge of fundamental learning processes. If education can Ik defined as the fulfillment of these aims we feel justified in saying we have been and shall continue to be educated. In social science courses we have learned in what era our institutions had their t eginnings. We learned to recognize the qualities and capacities of good statesmen and we have seen that the nation was saved from the danger of falling under the domination of a monarchy. The firm rule of the people which we have in the I’nited States has proved our democracy to be sound political institution. Through social science courses we have come to a clear comprehension not only of our rights and liberties but of our duties and responsibilities. We have learned to make wise use of our leisure time. This has been taught us both through our religion and school. The study of literature has taught us to understand the minds of great men and created in us a desire to enlarge our knowledge. We are, as are most small schools, limited as to vocational training. We have three courses offered us. A general course gives one a broad view but limited practical knowledge of many fields. From this course many of us discover what trade would interest us after graduation. Many girls undertake a commercial course which qualifies them for office work. The English scientific course prepares those who want to go on to further studies. While a greater breadth of training and knowledge could have been presented to us, there has been a daily contact with many new ideas. The mind has been given sufficient, opportunity thoroughly to digest all that came to it. Life in a small country school does not always have breadth, but it has depth. It is neither artificial nor superficial, but is depth close to realities. We have seen in history that any successful longstanding society has been centered around the home. By going to a public school and having our home duties we have made ourselves a useful part of this small society. The importance of this cannot Im estimated. The development of one’s character comes almost entirely from outside oneself when he is young. It is taught by the home, church, and one’s entire environment. Religion is a very important factor in the shaping of character. It breaks down selfishness; it helps us to overcome evil; it supplants impulse and enthrones reason. There comes a time in the development of every individual when he emerges from his immature ways and by the greater precision of his thoughts and actions realizes that he has begun to find himself. This transition does not come accidentally, but it is the result of hard work. Some of us have found ourselves; others of us will find ourselves in the future. 'This has been the goal of our education. If we let failures or what may seem to us at the time a lack of success discourage us, we cannot make progress. If we keep our faith in God and in ourselves, and if we apply ourselves to our work we need not fear the outcome. Anita Gaboriaull

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SPADE ORATION The spade since 1901 has l ecn handed down from year to year to the Junior Class who will soon he Seniors. The present Seniors have worked to tin utmost of their ability to uphold and defend its honorable traditions of labor, loyalty, and trustworthiness. As president of the Senior Class it is my pleasure to present this spade to tin Class of 1953 for safekeeping. We hope you will live up to its honorable standards. Thomas Dunn, 1957 RESPONSE TO SPADE ORATION As president of the Class of 1958. I accept this spade from the Class of 1957. It is our earnest desire to uphold tin traditions of labor, loyalty, and trustworthiness and to work toward the ideals which have been set before us. .hnms all, 1958 SENIOR CLASS OFFICERS I’re ident Vice President Secretary Treasurer Reporter A. A. Representatives Student Council Thomas Dunn Clermont Fournier Elaine Ferland Monique Renaud Sally Bagiev Richard Wells Edward Chabot Anita Gaboriault Marc DeLaricheliere Thomas Dunn PRO MERITO Elaine Ferland Anita Gaboriault Cecile Olney Monique Renaud

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VALEDICTORY ADDRESS Parents, Teachers, and Friends: To-night we graduate! Graduate from twelve short years of studying, working, playing, searching for an education that will enable us to accomplish some good; with strength to battle difficulties and overcome them, grace to confess our sins and forsake them, patience enough to toil until some good is accomplished, charity to see some good in our neighbor, faith enough to make real the things of God, hope enough to remove all anxious fear concerning the future. “To each is given a bag of tools, A shapeless mass, a book of rules, And each must make, ere life is flown A stumbling block or a stepping stone. And what do we have in this bag of tools? First and of greatest importance is faith. History is but a record of the triumph of faith and human hope, an even continuing story of the eventual triumph of good over evil. We go out into a tough world filled with crises and forbodings, war and persecution. History again shows us that it has always been so, but Love, Brotherhood, and Freedom under God, can and have been beheaded, stoned, burned and crucified. There have Ijccn slavery, ignorance, and intolerance. Faith has held on, building hospitals, asylums, schools, abolishing slavery, giving men and women more dignity and human rights, giving refuge to the persecuted. Every age has had its Caesars, and its Pilatcs. We have the ruthless rulers of the Soviet I’nion. But the freedom fighters of Hungary have shown us that truth and faith cannot be completely trodden into the earth. They have given hope and courage to all the world. A noted preacher when asked why Daniel was not devoured by the lions replied. “Because most of him was backbone and the rest was grit. So alongside our lamp of faith may we find grit and back-gone to give us courage and strength to encounter what may come, to make us brave in peril, temperate in wrath, and in all changes of fortune give us loyalty and a quiet mind. As we read of atom bomb explosions, it will help us to see the flowers blooming all around, hear the birds singing, watch a robin building her nest, hear a neighbor whistling cheerily in his garden, seea batch of newborn kittens. The bomb is made by man; evidences of spring are heaven born. We will not be afraid. The‘shapeless mass’, I think, is happiness. And happiness, the joy of living, consists of‘giving and doing for somebody else’ on this, ‘all life’s splendor depends’. It is easily done, a gift of clothing or food to the persons who need it. a kind word to the sorrowful, an expression of encouragement to the striving. trifles in themselves, but they will do much good in 24 hours. We may rest assured it will come back to us, so let’s look at the result. If we send one person-only one-happily thru each day, that would be thousands in the course of a year. Our main purpose in life, I think, is “To be a little kindlier With the passing of each day To leave but happy memories As we go along our way. To use possessions that are ours In service full and free. To sacrifice the trivial things For large good to be: To give of love in lavish way That friendship true may live: