Mount de Sales High School - Salesian Yearbook (Macon, GA)

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Dear Cavaliers: This letter will serve as both my first and final message as Chairman of the Board of Trustees to you, the students of Mount de Sales. During my lifetime I have served on many boards, but this one, without a doubt, has been the most rewarding because of the dedicated commitment by each member to Mt. de Sales. Without exception, every person on the Board has unhesitatingly accepted every challenge presented. The Board is more than just a governing body. It is an amalgam of individuals, each of whom has made a significant contribution to the past, present and future success of Mt. de Sales. They are a highly diverse group consisting of religious, Catholics and those of other faiths, doctors, educators, accountants, business men and women. In most cases these individuals are only names and you probably perceive the Board to be rather remote because we have no direct line of communication with you. For that reason I welcome the opportunity to provide a little insight into the workings of the Board. Our principal objective has always been to provide a quality education for each of you, to prepare you to further your education in college, and then to move on to a useful and productive life in society. The Board has been called upon to make many tough decisions through the years, some of which were probably not popular with every member of the Mount de Sales family. As you mature and move through life, you will better appreciate the fact that respon- sibility is an integral part of life which sometimes calls for difficult decisions. As long as those decisions are made in good conscience and with the best interests of those affected always in mind, criticism is more readily accepted. On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I want to wish each of you every success with your education, career and home life. As you proceed through life, my only hope is that you will look back on your Mount de Sales days with better appreciation for the Christian education provided in this Mercy school. Sincerely, Sad Pr Jen — David J. Zuver, airman MDS Board of Trustees

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Board of Trustees The Mount de Sales Board of Trustees, the governing body of our school: Seated, Sister M. Jogues Smith, R.S.M., Sister Santa Maria D’Angelo, Mrs. Connie Thuente, Sister Lourdes Sheehan, R.S.M. Standing, Mr. Dan Dunwody, Sister Virgiia Ross, C.S.J., Mr. Chris Rouse, Mr. Robert Porter, Monsignor Marvin LeFrois, Sister Mary Fidelis Barragan, R.S.M. (President), Dr. Bob- by Jones, Mr. David J. Zuver (Chairman), Reverend William Hurdle (Vice-Chairman), Dr. Norman Smith, Mr. Chester Pierce, Mrs. Jan Manning (Recording Secretary). 18

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My dear Seniors, For twelve years now you have waited for a day in May - the day of graduation. Now, May 1987 is finally here and your years at Mt. de Sales are stretching behind you rather than before you. It is time for you to go, and your eagerness to embark upon new experiences lights up your faces and refreshes the hearts of those you leave behind. The joy with which you face the future re- flects the joy of living that has been characteristic of you since you came to Mt. de Sales. Our time together began when you walked into Burke Hall - that Freshman domain - and soon all of MDS knew, the Class of ’87 had arrived. You were the “greenest”, the loudest, the talkin- gest and at times, the rowdiest Cav- aliers of all. Still, you survived and the molding of the spirit of the Class of 1987 had begun. The years from 1983 to 1987 were like so many others - years of change: changes in government, in styles, in music, in personalities. Closest to home, though, were the changes in you during those years from Freshmen to graduating Sen- (OFS. » You are wiser now, for you have met and mastered the myths of ancient Greece, the works of Emer- son and Hemingway, the tragedies of Shakespeare. You have walked with Pythagoras, Descartes, and Eu- clid. You have peered into the mi- croscopic world of cells and into the vastness of space. You have relived and questioned the experiences of the past that have molded the pres- ent. You have dreamed of things that might be. You have known the pain of disappointments and de- feats as well as the thrill of achieve- ment and victory ... And still you have kept in your hearts the joyful spirit that is yours. You are more giving now. You have learned that “‘you give little when you give of your possessions; it is when you give of yourself that you truly give.’’ (Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet.) You have reached out your hands in so many ways. As Freshmen, you joined hands and worked toward common goals at Homecoming and Fun Night. Re- member ‘‘The Lone Cavalier’ and building the pyramid! In your Soph- omore year, your Christmas gift to us all was “The Dawn.” You and Sr. Regina put in hours of preparation in order to share a new version of a be- loved old story. As Juniors, you worked so hard to achieve a beautiful tribute to the Class of 1986 as you planned “Romance in the Orient.” When you as- sumed the role of leaders in this, your Senior year, you took upon yourselves new responsibilities and faced new challenges. Sometimes, you fell short, but you were never down and out. You continued to give of yourselves on the playing fields and in the gyms, in tourna- ments and playoffs, in Liturgy, in the re- newal of an old tradition - the Candle- light Carol Service, a magnificent tribute of gift-giving at Christmas. You were giv- ing of the spirit that is you, not always knowing that you did so... You are more loving now. You have learned to accept others, though they may be different from you. You have learned to respect the ideas and values of others. You have learned to rejoice with each other and to cry with each other; to talk to each other and to hear one another. Out of all your distinctive- ness, out of all your individual likes and dislikes, you have become a class unto yourselves. And in these bittersweet days that mark the end of your years at Mt. de Sales, you have discovered the true meaning of friendship. To be asked to write this, the last message to you, the Class of 1987, has been my joy. Our time together has been too brief, but it has been a time of learning, of sharing, of caring. And |, along with the other members of your faculty, have been witness to the flow- ering of your joyful spirit. In closing, | quote again from Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet: Think not that | say these things in order that you might say the one to the other, “(She) praised us well. (She) saw but the good in us.” | only spoke to you in words of that which you yourselves know in thought. | would have you remember your years at MDS as years of promises, not just memories, and this your Senior year, as a beginning, not the end. | love you all, Waa. barern