Hudsonville High School - Pioneer Yearbook (Hudsonville, MI)

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First on roll is learned Frances, She’s the bright one, I tell you, Wants to follow brother’s footsteps Along the trail to old Kazoo. Just behind her there is Henry, Fluent orator is he. If he only keeps in practice He’ll be one grand Dominie. Freda looms up on the sky line, Stately as a telephone pole, Makes no difference what the race is, She will beat you to the goal. Next comes Gillette, our league pitcher, Who makes all those grandstand plays, At the field meet he won honors Jumping for the Blue and Maize. Following him is Gladys Cory, Alias Granny, as you know. Worries ’bout her brother Bobbie, Looks on life with eyes of woe. Then there’s Harry, little laddie, With his cunning ways so sweet. Always coaxing for some new shoes For his big 12-4 F feet. The next to greet us is Irene. With her violin and bow. But we wish you to remember At the piano she’s not slow. Last of all comes little Fritzie. About him I shall not speak, As I’ve said all I have to say I’ll now go and take my seat. Frederick E. Kunzi.

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in the fall and later in the school year a St. Patrick’s Party. As May neared to a close, we gave the first Annual Junior Banquet in honor of the Seniors. This event proved a success in spite of the weather. rIhus we completed our Junior year having still one round of the ladder to climb. Now the path seemed full of life and hope: “Where the end is great the way may be permitted to be long.” The Senior year was begun by re-electing last year’s officers. The sands of Latin were deeper and many times we saw the ghost of that ambitious man, Julius Caesar. In Athletics however, the Seniors were not to be outdone. In baseball Marion Gillette, Henry Wiersma and Harry Raterink held places on the team. While in the Field Meet at Coopersville we had four representatives: one girl, Frances Patmos; three boys, Harry Raterink, Henry Wiersma and Marion Gillette. For four years we, the members of the Class of ’21, have worked and played and fought for ourselves. In our lives the work we have done will count for power, in our memories the enjoyments we have had will remain unfading bits of brightness to be recalled with pleasure. We dare to boast in some measure of results and we shall not cease to do this. We are ready to depart and can say: “We are eager to go. We are ready to face the life before us seriously, cheerfully, trustingly, ready to take and to give what the world offers. We shall not forget the experi- ence which this school has given us.” We hope that the incidents which have made up our history as a class, may leave some impression, or set an example for our fellow students so that they may be better able to progress and to perfect the aim of the Hudsonville High School. CLASS POEM Now our high-school life has ended, We have been a jolly class. In regret our hearts are blended, Sighs are heard from lad and lass. We shall miss our friendly school-mates And the splendid times we’ve had, Now we hope that only good fates Await each hopeful lass and lad. As we linger here this evening Waiting for life’s urgent call Since our high school life we’re leaving Let’s have one more class roll call.

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SALUTATORY ORATION The class of 1921 extends to you a most cordial welcome. We have reached that goal towards which we have been striving for four long, yet seemingly short years. We must separate now and drift away each to his or her own field of individual activity. We must now enter upon the greater field of life which lies stretched out before us; we must cast away our high school privileges and pleasures, only to hold them with the firm grasp of memories. We will always cherish and hold dear the associations of our school life. Our experiences will be one of the infallible scources of pleasant recollections; they will add to our lives a great measure of things without which our life would indeed seem “an empty dream.” What greater treasure could we have than those memories? The time is at hand when it is necessary for us as a class to part and leave the threshold of the school so dear to us. Our equipment is good, our armor strong, so let us meet our worldly battles face to face, remembering that a nation looks to her schools for men of brains. Each of us must be- gin to carry out his or her own “scheme of things.” So let it be our aim to start forth in the true spirit of commencement to do our best in the respective field of life which lies before us. We have chosen as our motto, “Not merely to exist but to amount to something is life.” Let us consider in what ways the education we have acquired can help us to attain the end for which we are striving. Our school work is worth just the difference it makes in our activities. The question is not how many books we were compelled to read or how much we know of arithmetic, geometry, history and literature, but rather what use are we going to make of this knowledge? how are we different from the person who does not possess this information? and still more important are these differences in our activities desirable from the point of view of the group in which w7e live? In the popular mind education aims only at giving the individual the ability to earn a good living. But, that is not all. We define the purpose of education in terms of the development of the abilities of the person, of growth, of culture or of morality. Our aim is in the terms of social effici- ency which will include both the welfare of the individual and the good of society. In our democratic country where education is free to all, it is no more than right that society demand that this education be used to develop men and women for the common good. We want individuals who will re- spond to the needs of the group, who are in sympathy with social problems and who will contribute towards the social welfare. Not only must he pos- sess interest and sympathy but added to it must be knowledge. It is for this mental development that our educational institutions have been estab- lished. Then the question arises how can we through education produce an individual who because of social sympathy, knowledge and activity, can advance the welfai’e of all?