Ionia High School - Ionian Yearbook (Ionia, MI)

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want are vital, ambitious workers willing to work from the lowest to the highest positions. This willingness on our part will be our best weapon with which to compete for our jobs with experienced laborers. We may do good work on our economic problem by developing a richer character. In striving to rise above the average, we will be on the way to a solution of the practical problems of earning a livelihood. After the stones of ambition are in place, we can turn our attention to the development of the quality of understanding and tolerance. Emphasis on the latter would likely do much to lessen the tension between classes that is causing much of the difficulty today. We are told that we are living in the midst of a transitional period, comparable to the Renaissance or the Industrial Revolution. We realize that we should prepare ourselves to meet these changes intelligently. Tolerance in any personality should be a means of getting ready to confront a changing world. One cannot expect to anticipate all problems that may arise in this world of flux and change. It is steadying to remember that life is not a theoretical problem to be solved, but is rather a series of concrete situations to be met. Robert Browning tells us how this should be done. ‘Then welcome each rebuff That turns earth’s smoothness rough, Each sting that bids nor sit nor stand but go! Be our joys three parts pain! Strive, and hold cheap the strain; Learn, nor account the pang; dare, never grudge the throe!” 23 —Hazel Scholtens

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VALEDICTORY Friends: We, as Seniors stepping forth from class work into the world of adults, find ourselves face to face with challenges much more difficult than those existing in predepression days. Puzzling as these challenges are, they are not to be dreaded, but rather accepted cheerfully as our only means of social and personal salvation. Despite all of the talk about the depression, our greatest problem is still not an economic one, but a realization that we have personality to build, a life-long job in itself. As the poet said, “We are faulty—Why not? We have time in store. We are rough-hewn—nowise polished.” The foundation upon which we must build is courage. It will be no easy task to keep up our courage these days. It will be a fight all of the way along. People older and more experiencd than we are have given up in these days of chaos. As young people with high hopes, we shall find it harder to bear up under the strain of frequent disappointments. If we have the intellectual honesty to admit to ourselves the exact measure of the obstacles confronting us, we will be much better equipped to surmount them than if we try to deceive and comfort ourselves by saying we have no problems at all. Upon this basis of courage, our entire personality will be erected, with intellectual expansion as mortar. Now, more than ever before, the world needs people who are ever driving ahead to better things. To fulfill th s need, we must keep on growing mentally. Our courage will act as the force that propels us onward. It cannot let our minds stagnate in the montony of daily routine. Not only will it be easy to lose our desire for learning, but it will also be easy to feel that we can no longer learn. This is a dangerous theory and untrue, for Thorndike tells us that adults can learn as well as adolescents. All we need do is reach out and accept that which is offered to us. An expanding intellect is to personality as mortar is to a brick wall. It adds strength and is the power which holds portions of the whole together. Next, the parts of our wall, i. e., our personality, must be selected. The first stone we lay will be that denoting our desire to rise above mediocrity. The world no longer needs nor wants people who are unskilled or inefficient, as that field is now too crowded. Neither does it want those who try for the top positions in one step and who, if they get there at all, have not the initiative to stay. What it does 22

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SALUTATORY The class of ’35 salutes you and welcomes you. It is our sincerest desire that every one of you will feel that you are one of us. Some of you have trained and taught us; many of you are a part of the traditions which we have attempted to follow and honor; many are parents of graduates or future graduates of our high school. We all have a common bond in our appreciation and love for this institution. Today we are fused into one. To the parents, we express the gratitude now, at last, fully realized. Not only have you given us life itself, but also the counsel, the encouragement, and the desire necessary to surmount its trials and reap its rewards. Without you we are lost. To the faculty, we extend our hands in friendship and appreciation. The labors of our studies are forgotten; the results, we believe will be remembered; the im-measureable benefits will always be evident. We know how tolerant you have been when we lacked interest, how carefully you have explained and solved many of our difficulties, how you have solaced us in disappointment and shared our joys in triumph. We hope you are happy to see us complete our course and sorry to see us depart. We leave with you our deepest respect and most hearty friendship. On this class day, we are reluctant to think of what we should be if we were thrown into the world without the preparation given us. For making our graduation possible, we are grateful to the school administration. We have been given our opportunity, the future will decide how well we may have deserved it. Soon we shall join the ranks of the alumni, adding to them one of the largest classes in Ionia’s history and swelling their number to approximately two thousand. We feel honored to be graduated from a school which has become noted for its high standards in scholarship, athletics, forensic work, and music, because of their various successes. We have endeavored to carry on the traditions they have established and always maintained. If we have succeeded in adding anything worthwhile to our school, as they did, we are gratified with our efforts. This day marks more than the culmination of our efforts. The achievement of the school in graduating another class and the success of our parents in giving us the best in high school training is now a reality. It is not merely our day, it is yours, too. You have given and we have received. We shall do our best to prove deserving. Since you have been so essential to our success, we are truly happy to have an opportunity to express our deep gratitude. We invite you, today and always, to share our joys. 24 —Arthur Mann