Ionia High School - Ionian Yearbook (Ionia, MI)

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t THE IONIAN « » « » 19 3 4 j Valedictory Friends: Today, as you witness the graduation of this class, you, who are older and more experienced in the ways of this world, undoubtedly wish that you might confer upon us a little of your experience so that we might go out into life a little more thoughtful and, though confident, with less of that air of schoolboyish self-assurance that is inevitably doomed for a sad comedown. This all arises from the fact that the world has an old and well-established opinion of the high school student. We high school students have indeed acquired a reputation that must be lived down. It is a well known fact that we have the air of knowing more than anyone else in the world simply because we know so little that we haven’t yet found how very little we do know — and furthermore we absolutely refuse to be told. Consequently, we are about to go out into life, specimens of perfect assurance until that disastrous moment when the jolt comes and we find that we are not indispensable links in the mechanism of the world after all. How many times we have all heard this threatening prediction. But if I might venture my opinion against the world's, I would say that I think the world has a very distorted view of us. I assure you that we are perfectly conscious of all that we have to learn and to experience, and that it will take many years of living to catch up with you who have been acquiring experience for years. Would it be possible for us, having lived through these recent years of financial instability still unsolved by experts, to believe we could go out and astonish the world with no effort at all? It hardly seems possible. Oliver Wendell Holmes said that a little conceit has the virtue of making a man cheerful, hopeful, and optimistic, and that, talk as much as you like, it is to humanity as salt is to the ocean. Once a man has lost all of his conceit he has lost all of his illusions and the incentive to push on and conquer. Maybe, then, it is a good thing that each year an additional quantity of self-assurance is put into circulation through the medium of high school graduates, for what the world needs is hopefulness and optimism and that’s what the high school confidence generates. With the world in its present economic state, the attitude of the graduate toward life is a great deal more serious than that of the graduate of some years ago. Our future is less snug. You never find the modern girl vacillating between marriage and a career, or discussing life and its problems theoretically. The girls of today have found that there is too much theory and too little practicality in this world, and they have turned practical. Activity dominates the world, not as a fashion or a fad, but as a necessity. The younger generation has been aroused to the value of the dollar and now is facing facts squarely. The older generation is also accepting conditions in a very broadminded way. They are less exacting in their dealings with youth and are more flexible in their opinions. This is something that calls for a great deal of admiration, for to change ideals and ideas formed for a period of years is a thing not to be scoffed at. It is certainly a noteworthy thing when you realize how the whole world has conformed to the necessary changes in life. Perhaps, after all, this turmoil in the world is just the thing that is needed to prevent it from becoming smug and intolerant. So it is into this altered world that we pass today—from the school room into the world. It is a big jump, even with that traditional high school confidence, but we sincerely hope to succeed for we feel a very heavy obligation. We fully realize, as graduates of a public school, that we are greatly indebted to our public.” We must, of course, offer something in return for those annual taxes, and perhaps that will be to show that the money invested in our education has not gone the desolate way of so many other investments. Now we must face the fatal facts. That relentless Father Time has set his seal on the first era in our lives and will not halt his pace. We must, therefore, salute the future with determination. With that determination and with the splendid support we have received from parents, faculty, and friends, we simply cannot fail. — Dorothy Nichol ► 28

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t THE IONIAN « » « » 19 3 4 j President's Address Parents and Friends: Our emotions are deeply mixed today; we are happy at the thought that we have attained the highest advantages possible during our secondary schooling; sad at the thought that all our high school activities are now becoming a part of our past. Since our entrance as Freshmen, time has sped too rapidly for us to be aware of the fact that these have undoubtedly been the most carefree years of our lives. During the Junior and Senior periods we have participated in the many extra-curricular activities offered. It has been largely through these outside fields that we have established social relations which have aided us in becoming personally acquainted with every fellow student. Because of this, many friendships have been formed that will be kept during later years. We have witnessed many changes during our twelve years of school. Our programs were greatly rearranged in the step from the grade schools to the Junior High School. This was again in evidence when we advanced to the Senior High School. The instruction by different members of the faculty has given us varied and broadened outlooks on life. Much credit must be given to our present faculty for the sacrifices they have made. The teaching load has been greatly increased and all school hours were lengthened in the fall. We particularly noticed economic difficulties when our faculty was reduced and the period of school shortened by a month last year. However, conditions are more favorable this year; our session has been increased to nine and a half months. Senior funds, made inaccessible by a closed bank, have recently been released so that our various annual activities have been possible. Acknowledgments of services rendered, making our education possible, should be made. To the school board, as representatives of the citizens of Ionia, we give our thanks for their splendid supervision of school affairs during the year. To the superintendent, our appreciation for the cooperation given by him to us, individually and collectively. To the faculty, we express our appreciation of their services. Lastly, to our parents, we are indebted for our twelve years of school education. It is through the cooperation of these four groups that our graduation is possible. We are starting a new day. Our graduation forces on us another step in our life program. Many of us will attempt to enter fields of the business world, others will further their education at colleges. No matter where we go or what we do, our future is based on our past. The twelve years of our education will serve as pillars for our future. We are representatives of Ionia High School and now members of the I. H. S. Alumni Association. — Mason Maynard 27 4

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t THE IONIAN « » 19 3 4 Salutatory Fellow Students, Members of the Faculty, and Friends: It is my privilege, as a member of the graduating class of nineteen hundred thirty-four, to welcome you to the sixty-fourth annual Class Day exercises. It has been the custom for many years for the Seniors, during their last week as high school students, to gather as a body and acknowledge to all their deep appreciation for the care, love, and friendships they have enjoyed during the formative years of their lives. Not unmindful of this tradition and its worthy cause, but more from the fullness of our hearts, we are assembled here today for the express purpose of making known to you our extreme enjoyment of your favor. This day marks a milestone in our careers. It ends the period of adolescence in which our changeable minds are influenced by every simple fad, and marks the time when we, like the young fledgling, leave the protecting care of our homes and friends, and stare life, with its joys and sorrows, straight in the face. However evasive we may have been in the past, however carefree we have seemed in former days, we face a most serious situation. Now we test the fruits of education. Now we try our knowledge. Those who have made the most of their time, who have obtained some atom of the lessons of others’ experiences, who have seriously heeded the warnings of their elders — yes, those who have gleaned the fields of counsel of their harvests, are the ones who will find the battle against life the easiest. There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat, and we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.” The full sea is our lives, the tide our education. If we have taken education in the proper attitude, and followed its direction, day by day, we will bring glory to our names. If not, then our lives will be consigned to the shallows and misery. To you teachers who have guided us in our daily tasks, who have labored hard to instruct us to the best of your ability, we give our utmost thanks. There never was, or shall be, a faculty so deserving of unstinted praise. To our parents, those who have loved us, guided us, and counseled us, our sincerest appreciation is yours. To all our friends who have made life a continuous joy, we trust that friendship with us has meant a little greater understanding of life’s problems, and a small measure of the joy we have received. This day brings forward mingled feelings. To some the joy of starting life; to others, sadness of spirit for having to leave the splendid fellowships we have enjoyed in Ionia; and to still more, a varied symphony of reactions blending into a resolve for the highest of successes. So, because this day means so much to us, because it represents a milestone in our lives, because we desire the interest of all our acquaintances, in behalf of the Senior class of nineteen hundred thirty-four I take the greatest of pleasure, and feel it to be the finest privilege, to welcome you singly and as a group to this day of mutual accord. — Thane Benedict, Jr. 29