Kenmore High School - Kenitorial Yearbook (Kenmore, NY)

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Dr William H. Cowley, president of Hamilton Col- lege speaks at the board of educations official de- dication of the new school December ll 1940. For the formal dedication of the new Kenmore High School building Decem- ber ll, 1940, Dr. W. H. Cowley, President of Hamilton College, spoke on What Now? A condensed version of the speech is reprinted here. We are gathered tonight to dedicate this magnificent new high school. For many years the people of Kenmore have been dreaming about it: . . . the dream has come true, and we are assembled to congratulate the town, the school board, the superintendent, the principal, the faculty, the architect, the students. Instead of being gay and full of congratulatory kudos, I'm going to talk in a serious vein about the larger significance of this building not only to Kenmore but to the United States of America. . . In 1870 a great educational event took place in this country: . . . Iohns Hopkins University opened its doors as our first full-fledged American uni- versity .... The men who founded and organized Iohns Hopkins didn't fall into the temptation that faces . . . Kenmore with its new high school building. They said, in essence, that fine buildings were very much to be desired but that they preferred to put their money and their energies into building a great faculty, an outstanding student body, and a reputation for excellence that would influence all education not only in America but throughout the world. . . You have a new and beautiful high school building but what are you going to do with it? . . . We are living in an epoch of a smashing social earthquake . . . threat- ening to destroy this school and everything for which it stands .... What happens in this building and its counterparts throughout the United States in the next few months will determine the future of our nation and of the world. This is a very broad statement, but let me justify it by reviewing the events of the past year .... With lightning stroke after lightning stroke Hitler moved into Norway, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, and France .... Staggering and overwhelming is the fact that Hitler achieved his successes chiefly by using the weapon that the democracies most highly prize: the weapon of education .... Every one of the five nations that Hitler has conquered in 1940 was a literate nation .... This fact Hitler used with diabolic craftiness. He either started or encouraged the circulation of half-truths or complete lies, and when these had stupified his intended victims he sent his armies in to take them over .... l'm convinced that above all else this new school building must be dedi- cated -together with all the school buildings of the United States, large and small-to two great and urgent objectives: first, to establish the conviction that buildings are not in themselves important but that instead the spirit that pervades them is paramount: and second, that we must train our students and the entire nation to a new and more thorough critical-mindedness which will protect us from falling into the traps with which the subterranean and persuasive propaganda of the Nazi surrounds us. . . One thing is more im- portant than everything else put together. That one thing is the education of the youth of Kenmore to understand the crisis that we face and to rise in intelligence, in strength, and in spirit to be equal to it. . . This ceremony is an occasion for congratulations but much more insistently it is a challenge, a challenge to balance this beautiful and efficient architec- ture with a thriving and persistent spirit of devotion to democratic living.

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Officials Left to right: Mr. Frank C. Densberger, superintendent of schools: Dr. Elmer L. Sleeper. trustee: Mr, Kenneth O. Irvin, district clerk, business manager: Mr. Allen B. Rae, president, Mrs. Mildred L. Clements, trustee: Mr. George F. Wallace Sr., vice-presi- dent: and Mr. Lloyd E. Greer, trustee. Head men in Kenmore Senior High School affairs are the Board of Education and school officials. In addition to its work in making the new school possible, the board also plays a decisive part in the run- ning of the school, for the policies affecting school life must be approved by this group before going into effect. New rules were not at first passively accepted by the student body: however, the administration, in promoting more recreational and extra- curricular activities, has succeeded in making the first year in the new high school an inspiring experience for most students. MR. ROY G. FREEMAN Principal If oc. 1. .9 l i MR. FRANK C. DENSBERGER MR. IOHN E. DEMOREST MR. RAY OND ZIER MR. CARL W. BAISCH Superintendent of Schools Supervisor Zsi ipal Assistant Principal a