North Dakota State College of Science - Agawasie Yearbook (Wahpeton, ND)

Page 12 text:

Director of Junior College VERNON E. HEKTNER Excellence is one attribute that the modern world must insist upon as never before. There has been entirely too much shoddiness in every line of human endeavor. As a civilization we can no longer afford the luxury of tolerating an inferior product. Yet on every hand we see the effects of inferior workmanship, inferior scholarship, and general apathy toward the demands of perfection. It is no accident that our way of life now faces a foreign ideology that seems bent on destroying us and at the same time has the power to make this statement at least somewhat more than an idle threat. We must look for excellence wherever it can be found. This includes all education from the technical and vocational to the liberal and graduate level. We must learn to honor or even demand excellence in every socially accepted human activity no matter how humble its origin and to scorn shoddiness, however exalted the activity. John W. Gardner, President of the Carnegie Corporation recently said, “There may be excellent and incompetent plumbers; excellent philosophers and incompetent philosophers. An excellent plumber is infinitely more admirable than an incompetent philosopher. The society which scorns excellence in plumbing because plumbing is a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy. Neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water.” It is with this thought that I wish to bid farewell to the class of 1060.

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A Word From the President Some time in the past, I used the title “Growing Pains” for an article in our school paper. It strikes me that this is an appropriate subject for brief comment in this year’s annual because our growing pains arc becoming more intense; and these growing pains, resulting from increasing enrollment, naturally make more work for all of us. During the two years that you seniors have been on our campus you have been most cooperative in accepting crowded conditions and daily schedules that have not been entirely satisfactory. Here is my opportunity to express my sincere gratitude for your fine attitude. While on the subject of growth permit me to encourage each graduate and each first year student to grow and grow and grow. It pays to keep increasing our amounts of knowledge and skill; and good returns result from improvement in our pei'sonal qualities. I will not elaborate; you know what I mean. As I encourage you in the direction of individual growth, I also extend personal good wishes to each and every one in all the years that lie ahead. May good fortune go hand in hand with whatever you do toward your personal growth. Sincerely,

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Registrar, Director of Business School W. M. NORPGAAKD As I write this statement. 1 am in the midst of planning a trip to Los Angeles, California, to attend the National Convention of Registrars and Admissions officers. While there I shall attend two gatherings of SSS alumni—one at Los Angeles, the other at Oakland. Our Alumni Secretary has provided me with the names of some 200 alumni who have settled in the State of California. As I look over those names, I am amazed and impressed with the success that these people have achieved since graduation. One, Ralph Mccklenbcrg, who has made a tremendous success in the wholesale auto parts business, has invited us to have the Los Angeles meeting in his home. It will easily accommodate 100 people. The two people who arc heading up the Oakland meeting arc men who were very successful in their chosen occupation—George Reeder in the wholesale grocery business and John Maloney in the heavy machinery business. One could go on and name hundreds of Science alumni to whom one can point with pride, people who received their initial training at the college that you now attend or from which you arc now graduating. These young men and young women added initiative, foresight, hard work, skill, and planning to their training. The result was personal success, wealth, and community prestige. You, too, have a similar opportunity. Will we be able to praise your accomplishments ten or twenty years hence? I certainly wish you every success.