Ionia High School - Ionian Yearbook (Ionia, MI)

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THE IONIAN Valedictory 1932 FRIENDS: It is with mingled feelings that we gather on this high school campus for the last time. We come with a deeper appreciation for those who have made our high school life possible; we come with a certain feeling of satisfaction in having successfully completed one chapter of our life’s work; we realize also a feeling of regret at breaking association with those classmates and teachers whom we have learned to love and respect. We come with a more serious sense of the responsibilities that are ours in starting out into life, each in his own way, with his own duties to perform. Life has been likened to a game of chess. The board is the Universe; our opponent, a fair, exacting, unseen player. The chessmen are our opportunities, our chances of gain in life. To play successfully, we must know the rules of the game, and knowing these, use them to the best advantage in our plays. Huxley said, “Education is learning the rules of this mighty game of life.” Through education, then, we learn to play, we acquire the ability to live. It has been said that “ability involves responsibility”; and that, “power to its last particle is duty.” So we find that having learned the rules, we are expected to play a better game; having acquired the ability to live, it is then our duty to use this power in living successful lives. Living successfully involves two great responsibilities. First—the responsibility to and for ourselves; second—the responsibility to and for others. Each must live with himself, so it behooves us to make ourselves as fit companions as possible. We all owe certain things to that companion —Self. We must be self-respecting and self-confident, with enough self-reliance to live according to our own convictions. We must do all that we are capable of doing, being diligent in all things. Myself will respect me more, and think me to be a more desirable companion if I use my time to good advantage; if I achieve and gain. I must keep myself in good working order. My mental self has to be kept as clean and powerful as my physical self. My mind must be cool and logical. I have to be able to “spin the gossamers as well as forge the anchors of the mind.” I must grasp opportunities. In so doing, we do not mean to be selfish, but we must be moderately aggressive in looking after our own interests. Indeed, we have many services to perform for ourselves. Our responsibilities do not cease, however, in fulfilling our duties to Self, for we owe much to others. “Are you not your brother’s keeper?” Then, surely you are responsible to and for him. Since we, through our education, are learning to live, it is our duty to teach that art to others. We must be good examples, radiating truth, friendliness, and humility. We should respect customs and conventionalities of society, being, at the same time, open-minded and receptive to new ideas. We must, above all else, serve others, co-operating whole-heartedly with them. Although these responsibilities are numerous, they might find their total in the Golden Rule. With a serious sense of these duties, both to Self and to others, in our hearts, we are almost bewildered as we look out and see our lives stretching before us into the unknown. How can we hope to measure up? Even as we question, we think Emerson’s thoughts and with him agree: “So nigh is grandeur to our dust, So near is God to man, When Duty whispers low, ‘Thou must’; The youth replies, 7 can’.” [22] Katherine Benedict

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1932 THE IONIAN President’s Address PARENTS, TEACHERS, FRIENDS: The Class of 1932 sincerely welcomes you to its Class Day Exercises. During the last three years as pupils in the Senior High School we have looked forward to the days of our graduation, that is, our Baccalaureate, Class Day, and Commencement Exercises, when we would complete our high school tasks. That joy which we anticipated in graduation is not as full or complete as we thought it would be, for Commencement Week means leaving familiar places and friends. Here in our school we have developed a splendid spirit of co-operation, helpfulness, and true sportsmanship. Soon each member of this class will be on his or her way in life. Some are fortunate in having their life work already chosen; some of these will be able to further their education by going to college. I hope all will be successful in the various occupations that best fit their training and character. To me, graduation is very much like a football game. Not that we are to be compared with the contending teams, but to the lowly football which is kicked suddenly out onto the field. At a given signal—our graduation— we are projected into the world and, like the football, we bounce up and down and around aimlessly, are picked up, carried, thrown, and kicked again and again. One moment we are in the air sailing along and the next we are in the mud of heated competition. All these things and many more must be endured on our way to our final goal. From what we have heard and read from men more mature and experienced than ourselves, this world of business is full of sordid things— crooked competition, petty jealousies, and small minds. But, fellow classmates, we have many responsibilities; because of that splendid training given us at the expense of the community and our parents, we must rise above these lower levels of life. We must live according to the highest ideals of morality so that we can say we have left the world better than we found it. And further, my classmates, we will always remember these school days as the happiest days of our lives, because of the associations and friendships made here. Friendship and sentiment, while the words seem soft, should be in evidence more often in the world of business and trade than they are today. In closing our school days we are greatly indebted to many persons. To our parents we owe our deepest appreciation for the encouragement and support given us. We will never forget what they have done for us in making our education possible. We wish to thank the faculty for their splendid help and co-operation. Their attitude towards us and willing suggestions made school life a pleasure and a success. To the business men we express our gratitude for the splendid backing given to our school functions and activities. To the taxpayers and the Board of Education we wish to express our thanks for making it possible for us to go to school and enjoy the best means possible of securing an education. Classmates, I sincerely thank you for the great honor you have given me. I assure you I have carried out my duties to the best of my ability and hope I did not disappoint you. I hope you will always have the attitude of co-operation you have shown during this year and wish you the greatest success in whatever vocation you undertake in life. [21] James Barkdull

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1932 Salutatory THE IONIAN FRIENDS: It is my privilege today to greet you on behalf of the Class of 1932 of the Ionia High School. I hope that I shall succeed in making you sense our deep appreciation of your presence here. Today is a day that we Seniors, as well as many of you in the audience, shall never forget. We shall remember it primarily because it is summarizing the first act of the play of our lives. It is bringing this act to a conclusion and preparing for a change in setting. Furthermore, it is pulling the curtain not only on the scene, but also on the characters with whom we have become so familiar. This is sufficient cause for remembrance, but there is a second reason. The day, and what it symbolizes, is unique. Other experiences may occur time and again, but there is only one graduation from high school and only one Class Day. Thus, its memory will necessarily linger as one of the sweeter moments in what we hope and trust will be a happy life for all of us. Fancy has its way with us as we drink in every moment of almost the last meeting with fellow Seniors. One train of thought centers about our parents, or whoever may have directed and prompted us in this first act of the play of life. In many cases, great sacrifices have been made that we, who are to be our own directors in the next act, should be better fitted for it. In all cases love, anxiety, and sympathy have been lavishly expended by these directors. Many of you in the audience fill that place, and we tender to you a special welcome. It is natural that the next line of thought should concern the other very important factor in this scene which is closing—the faculty. In classrooms, day by day, we may sometimes have lost sight of the purpose of these teachers. We may even have thought of them as unfair, unfeeling, and unthinking. Now, however, there remains only understanding of them and of their fundamental motive—that of preparing us for life. We see how patient they have been. We see what great benefits we have derived from contact with them: how they have enabled us to develop a philosophy of life; how they have made difficult lessons easy; how they have given us valuable interpretations in various studies, and also of timely problems, and been eager for ours. All this enters our minds, and we wish you who have been our teachers to know how sincerely we welcome you. At last, thought turns inevitably to friends. Included under this term are lower-classmen, relatives, and other friends aside from classmates. Gazing back over this first act—the scenes of which have been composed of school-days, school functions, and the like—it is evident that we have depended on them to probably a greater degree than we have realized. These years may prove to have constituted the happiest, and undoubtedly the most carefree, period of our lives. As these friends have helped to make it so, it is with sincere pleasure that we greet every one of you. These thoughts course through our minds, and one huge “Welcome” radiates from the faces of the graduating class before you. Perhaps words are unnecessary, nevertheless, may I extend this welcome to every parent, guardian, teacher, and friend present today. Doris Kendig [23]