Lafayette High School - Oracle Yearbook (Buffalo, NY)

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LASS NIGHT - eagerly anticipated by every senior - has at last arrived. We of the Class of 1941 extend to you a most cordial welcome this evening. We hope that our careful planning has not been in vain and that you find pleasure in this program. Together as a class for the first time, it is with mingled emotions of joy and sorrow that we launch into this program, the last in which we shall take part here in the Old Plant. As we prepare to go our separate ways, this troubled world challenges us with a multitude of problems yet to be solved. Soon we shall be facing the world, no longer as high school students, but as responsible individuals. Perhaps the road ahead is not a smooth one for all of us. Yet Lafayette has, to a large extent, prepared us for our coming lives. YVhatever the courses we may choose to take, however divergent our paths may be, the training given us by our competent faculty and the kindly advice of lllr. Gott will always be of enduring worth. ln these four happy years, we have gained more than our required units, more than that visible semblance of our achieve- ment, our diploma. Though unconscious of it, we have been endowed with a certain amount of self-reliance, respect for authority, willingness to cooperate, and, most important, tolerance for the views of others. VVhat greater stimulus could be given us for higher achievement, what better preparation for our future lives as citizens? Aside from this character training, Lafayette's fine old traditions will forever be an integral part of us. Though our kinships here will soon be ended, Loyalty, Honor and Service, cherished in all our hearts, will bind us together in a common desire to observe this fine old Lafayette tradition in our chosen fields of endeavor and thus, to win added laurels for the high school of our hearts always. alutatory ir fk 13 'k 'k

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ti' 17 Na I' o the emiors S THE time approaches for the close of your high school course, I can well imagine that you would like to be able to watch the road ahead and at the same time be provided with a rear vision mirror. Behind you lies your record of achievement exactly as you have written it. Slowly but surely your marks have appeared on a card originally clean and white. They have accumulated to your satisfaction or disappoint- ment. Perhaps you have done better than you thought you could - maybe you have let other things interfere to the detriment of your school work. At any rate the record is closed - it rests with you to face it squarely as a guide for the future which is still in your power to mold much as you desire. Little profit! is derived from regret - large gains accrue from wise and thoughtful heeding of the past. If you rush headlong into the unknown without a pause to ponder, your mistakes of the past are likely to be repeated with little or no improvement in your way of life. To a young man or woman life offers an encouraging outlook with the opportunity to learn, improve, advance and achieve. At no period in the world's history has there been greater need for the intelligence and enthusiasm which youth can give to the solu- tion of its problems. No matter what you have done, there is always what you may do. In this vision lies hope, the spur to great attainment. He can who thinks he can. Lafayette has had occasion to hold its head high and be very proud of those who have stepped up. The members of the class of 1941 should be no exception. It rests with you to carry the banner to victory in your chosen life work so that Lafayette may shine with reflected brilliance. Be Strong and of a Good Courage in filling your niche in the world successfully - you must not fail. J 'A' i'

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N CE AGAIN, the time has come for another graduation class to take its place in the ranks of those who have left Lafayette. Surely we must feel a sense of gratification for a task well done. All is not felicity, however, for we also realize some pangs of sadness as we remember that the day of perhaps final departure from ever-helping friends and teachers draws near. The aspects of the civilization in which we live are admittedly not very bright. One cannot blind himself to the slaughtering of innocents in a world which claims to be at the pinnacle of progress. Even though we comprehend the magnitude of the task which lies ahead of us, we, as the youth of today, must take courage and have faith in our destiny. However minute a cog we may be in the wheel of life, we feel that we may in some way influence its course. It is this faith, born of determination, that gives us the ability to face life without dubiousness or diffidence. As we turn to survey our achievements, we see what we have acquired during our all too brief sojourn here at Lafayette. Although some of us will go on to higher institutions of learning, it is the basic training in character and intellect which we have received here that will sustain us in the more trying hardships of life. VVe must be ever grateful for a land as magnificent as ours which has given us so many opportun- ities, and we must be willing tof sacrifice to ever maintain our country and its high ideals. It is for us, with our youthful enthusiasm, to try to instill in others the same sense of responsibility and love that has been embedded in our very being by that magic symbol, DENIOCRACY. And now, we hesitate a moment to express our gratitude to you, the faculty, who have ever aided us in the paths of right endeavor 3 and to you, Mr. Gott, for your untiring efforts in our behalf, we give our deep honor and our fullest appreciation. Let us pause to utter a silent prayer that we, the Class of 41, shall live up to the high standard of achievement established for us. alevlicto y