La Salle Academy - Maroon and White Yearbook (Providence, RI)

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wllllfll - Z 1' H o NLI- A N r E Y UD QICISSQS Thus, our initial days at La Salle were passed. There were so many things to do, so much activity around us, that the past was completely forgotten and our one desire was to get all that was possible from the facilities afforded us. With a real live spirit pervading the academy it required little effort on our part to capitalize the many opportunities placed at our disposal for the development of our physical, spiritual and intellectual faculties. In the brief record of achievement that follows, the story of our freshman year is told. Our orientation progressed with rapidity. Swiftly growing familiar with the place you could gradually notice our bewilderment melting before the sun of friendships quickly formed. And so it was that the class of '36 warmed to La Salle heart and soul and gave to her a iilial devotion. From the very beginning this seasonls yearlings showed themselves intent upon doing all things well and boosting each and every activity with a gusto. Our enrollment reached two hundred and seventyffive, of which number one third made the Silver Letter Society. What a thrill it was for those of us fortunate enough to gain this charmed circle of scholarf ship and with what pride did we exhibit both here and abroad the insignia given in token of advanced scholarship. No Phi Beta Kappa key was ever more proudly worn than our Silver L's. Cur feature classes were r-A, 1-B and 1-E. Thanks to them our first year set a pace which not infrequently the upper classes found altogether too severe to follow. In the realm of sports our interclass competition showed how well we took to the great coaching facilities of the school. In Football, Basketball and Track our representatives worked doubly hard to make the various Freshman teams attain a standard of excellence for future first year groups to shoot at. Freshmen, when it came to other activities such as the raffle, the Band Recital, the Plays and other entertainments were at the top of the heap. With the successful comf pletion of the final examinations we will be Freshmen no longer. Let us express the def termination here and now to carry on. As Sophomores we must follow thru with confidence and courage. V Sixtyfthree

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llllIfllw - .S ', 7 TH ONl-I-AN TE K CBD f l I CS resA1na11 j N A clear September morn last fall La Salle stretched out her arms and welcomed to her circle one of the largest and finest Freshman groups ever to be enrolled. Strong of spirit if timid of mien we came. A wide variance was to be observed in size, some of our members being big fellows and a few veritable midgets, with the rest running to averf age. Although we entered the Academy three hundred strong and felt a tinge of smug confidence in our numerical strength, we soon became impressed with the idea that we were strangers among the large population of upper classmen. To us it was the beginning of a new life, a life that promised new friends, new thrills, and new experiences. Unf doubtedly our aloofness during the first week was prompted by the idea that as far as the old boys were concerned, we did not speak their language. Once, however, the routine of school life began to function, all things seemed to change. We found the boys of the upper division genial and warm friends. In fact, at La Salle, there seems to be no distinction for age and service. Everywhere there is a general commingling of classes, that promotes loyalty, good fellowship and school spirit. Hardly had we acclimated ourselves to our programs and class routine when the whole school was humming with the work of the extra curricular activities. There were athletic clubs and societies of all sorts to take up our leisure time and sustain our interest in the school and its work. In the world of sport, there were freshman and sophomore clubs in football. Superf vised by coaolhes and properly outfitted, we were instructed in the fundamentals of footf ball. Those who lacked the taste for the rugged antics of the grid team were induced to join the Cross Country squad. Intramural meets were arranged and a whole' hearted interest aroused among the classes. Besides these sports, johnny Krieger coaxed out another large group and taught them the principles of basketball. Everyone was taken care of and every one had something to do. Other activities that attracted us were the band, the orchestra, debating, the Latin Club and the Public Speaking Society. In all these, the class yielded a large percentage of members who proved that despite our youth we were willing to boost and carry on. Sixtyftwo

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MWIIIIIW ' Q X 1 THE MAROON AND VVHITE Y GU fO, l'2ffJCClffO1flCl T Cjfl ance ,1 its HE selection of a career in life is the most important problem that confronts a boy and for which he must eventually Hnd a solution. For a boy to place his utmost confidence merely upon the word of an adult or any other fortuitous method without proper study and direction is to gamble with the success or failure of his life. The world today is surfeited with men, yes, and with young men who trusted too much to their own judgments and eschewed the intelligent direction of those familiar with the hazards that invariably lie along the pathway of the average man's life. A career or vocation in life must be planned. And this is particularly the case today when commerce, business, industry and the professions require the individual to be highly specialized in the occupation or profession he adopts. At La Salle proper recognition is given to this fact. Matriculation at this Academy does not merely mean admission and the promiscuous assignment of the boy to a course selected by himself to suit his own whims or fancies, or at the suggestion of a parent unf familiar with the Academy's curriculum. This was the system widely prevalent in the days that our parents familiarly and fondly recall as the good old days. The tempo of modern life has changed this aspect of course selection completely. Now there must be no guess work, no chance selection, lest the pupil hamper himself and throw away his chances for security in life. To forestall the pupil's failures and to enable him to select a course that will best suit his mental capacity and ability, two members of the faculty, Brother Flavian and Brother Edward are appointed to supervise the program of the students. Records are carefully scrutinized, interviews with the students enable the vocational director to discover the boy's aptitudes, his preferences and other qualifications that are imperative for the proper disposition of the boy's program. The salutary effects of the Vocational Guidance Office are manifest throughout the school. Courses are no longer devised to fit the student, but the student is placed to fit the course. The result has been a large decrease in pupil failure and a higher increase in the number of students who have been elected to the scholastic honor societies of the Academy. This def partment has justified its existence immeasurably. i Sixtyffom'