Lakehead University - Yearbook (Thunder Bay, Ontario Canada)

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THE lanman s ESSAGE Since 1948 when the Lakehead Techni- cal Institute was opened, the need for this school has been amply proven. The con- tinued growth of the area warrants the ex- tensions planned over the past few years by your Advisory Board. Last year prelimi- nary plans for a new building were drawn and submitted for approval and further work on these plans is now going forward. The financial objective is well within our reach, thanks to the generous support which the project has received from Lake- head citizens and from industrial and com- mercial concerns interested in this area. Splendid co-operation has also been achieved with the cities of Port Arthur and Fort William in making arrangements for adequate maintenance. The Department of Education has continued its support and we are now engaged in making final ar- rangements for the Department ' s participa- tion in actual construction. The Advisory Board feels that excellent progress has been made during the past year and it is our hope that these plans and fi- nancial arrangements may be completed at an early date so that the new building may soon become a reality. To that end we are bending all our efforts. We bespeak your support in this task and we trust that the excellent record of our students and the growing interest en- gendered in the community will more than justify the plans now underway for the Lakehead College of Arts, Science and Technology. % CHAIRMAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE THE r Principah s ESSAGE To the Graduates: I am privileged to extend to the graduat- ing class sincere congratulations and good wishes for the future. You are our seventh graduating class; if all our plans materialize for the coming year you may be the last one to graduate from the Lakehead Technical Institute. During the course of the next few months the Lakehead College of Arts, Science and Technology should become a reality. A new building on a spacious campus should replace our converted army barracks. You, more than others, will appreciate the eager way we anticipate this move. But I am sure that in the years to come we shall often reminisce on how the student body rose above the limitations of the phys- ical surroundings. During your brief period here you made the most of our limited facilities. Your Students ' Council and Athletic Society or- ganized and carried through an extensive programme which evoked your whole- hearted participation and approval. This Yearbook is witness of your interests, abil- ities and willingness to work. I have every confidence in your scholastic attainments; you should measure up to the high stan- dards set by those who have preceded you. It is my hope that as our school grows and expands in permanent quarters we shall be able to retain as fine a spirit of friendly interests and co-operation as that demonstrated by the Class of ' 55. We of the staff shall continue to take a keen interest in your progress and attain- ments. We wish you Godspeed. J C avoid S. rami PRINCIPAL 7

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EDITORIAL Variety may be the spice of life; it may take all kinds of people to make a world. But do we not overdo these platitudes? Most of us can concede that life is in- teresting because it has variety; that excite- ment comes from repulsion and attraction to variations in individuality. Personality traits, national and racial characteristics, regional customs, and religious traditions are part of the sum of individuality that gives us our manner of living. Revert to the individual, however, and it is essentially the opinions and outlooks expressed that make him distinctive and separate. Such distinctiveness is precious. Are we protecting it? Are we not in danger of shap- ing ourselves from the common and com- monplace mold? Do we not force ourselves into the path of mediocrity through fear of being different; through fear of rising above, or falling below, the level of the average? The development of personality is sel- dom consciously regulated; this is a dem- ocratic country; we are free to express our opinions; to be different! Why, then, do we impose artificial restrictions upon ourselves? Why do we hesitate to commit ourselves on even the most trivial points of controversy? We, as students, should be eager to con- tribute our fresh, if not new, ideas, to a society which — we should have the naivete to believe — is eager to hear them! The fear of criticism and bold analysis will be evident in this very book. It should be a showcase for tale:it and a medium for more than laudatory words and encomiums. There is so much to criticize in ourselves; there is much that we could say construc- tively and analytically about our school and its professors. Our building may be little more than a dump. But we may hesitate to say so. Some of our lecturers may be brilliant; others we know reflect an ordi- nariness like our own. Do we minimize appalling physical conditions or personal mediocrity by ignoring or glossing them over? Perhaps we think we do. We tend to make feeble excuses in an attempt to soften the sharpness of unflattering detail. We plod along under the weight of an affable reticence; we make no effort to rise above our situation. We cannot expect to grow and mature under such conditions if we close our minds to them, refusing to ac- knowlege their existence, except in the gos- sipy intimacy of the smallest group. The truly sad fact is that there is no need for this shyness, this diffidence. We need only to realize that we should be assertive, vigorous, demanding. Certainly we shall be knocked down. Of course, we may sound shrill. But we will develop individuality. To draw the best from our environment; to re- ject the worst — only thus can we stand out as individuals and begin to achieve truly interesting lives. X (i

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Back: F. Harrison, W. Tuisku (vice-president), W. Beaton (president), J. Beedell, J. Mitchell Front: K. Craig, R. Kostick (secretary), L. Staples (treasurer), K. Nelson. THE S. A.C. Presidents Now that our school year is almost finished, it is perhaps time to look back and see what it has brought to us and what we have brought to it. The Student ' s Administrative Council has tried to provide an adequate social pro- gramme for the student body. Many have taken an active part in all phases but others have simply shrugged it off and let the greater part pass them by. A social life is not designed primarily to furnish the stu- dent with diversion from his everyday work but to provide a valuable opportunity to learn to meet people. There is no phase of life in which a man is completely independ- ent of the elements surrounding him. No matter what his situation or business, he must always be part of a team. In our school, because of the small en- rolment and the short time many of us spend here, it is difficult to form any kind of efficient team or any single spirit which binds us to the school. The degree of par- ticipation demanded of each individual for extra-curricular activities is therefore greater. For any administrative body to hope for success in any venture, there must be the co-operation of all the members. Our small student body does not lend itself to any large scale achievements and the for- mation of smaller organizations within the school is not always fruitful, but, neverthe- less they could serve a definite purpose. It MESSAGE is for future administrations to try to form such groups as the Precambrian Club in order to draw more students into outside activities. L.T.I, is said to bridge the gap be- tween high school and university. For those of us who are going on to university and even for those who go into business, there will be no one to help us bridge the next gap. This we must do alone, and one of our few materials is the experience of meeting people and cultivating friendships which we have garnered in the smaller, more relaxed atmosphere which we have been fortunate enough to have here. In a large university, the individual can become one of thousands churning in the remorse- less activity of a large machine. A student who comes to this with a background of close social relationships within an educa- tional context should adjust himself more readily to the different life. A university must be more than an in- stitution which doles out sheepskins. Cer- tainly, it is a proving ground for our later achievements. Success usually goes to that man who is more than an engineer or to a doctor who has proven himself with people. By taking part in a school ' s activities, by living outside of the small shell of oneself, by striving to become part of a team, thus we can find some augury of success. William £