Northampton Area High School - Amptennian Yearbook (Northampton, PA)

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IRA L. SHEAFFER, B.S., M.A. Principal

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To the Class of 1939: OU, the members of the Class of 1939, are about to leave the sheltered harbor of school life and launch into the turbulent sea of life. What a turbulent sea it is! During the period of your high school life great social, economic and political changes have been taking place. So rapid and far-reaching have these changes been that many people have found it difficult to keep their thoughts and actions on an even keel. ¥ Especially disturbing is the threat of another great war. The very foundations of democracy are being challenged by dictator controlled states. Within our own borders subversive influences are at work which are not in accord with the American way of life. The need for straight thinking, courageous citizens, has never been greater. It is to be hoped that the training which you have received in high school may help you be the kind of citizens which th'S age demands. The challenge for service to community, state, and nation has never been greater. We sincerely hope that your actions in the future will justify our present faith in each one of you. Sincerely yours, G. A. Eichler, Superintendent

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To the Class of Nineteen Hundred Thirty-nine: © |HE choice of a life work is one of the most important decisions that a high school graduate is ever called upon to make. It determines the main scope of his service, the degree of his success, and the extent of his happiness. Both the opportunities and the obligations of youth in the increasingly complex society of our day are many and varied. You must, as a consequence, not only discover, but you must assume wisely and well its share in the world’s work, if the future of our citizenship is to remain secure. Instead of holding out to you the challenge of service in conspicuous places and in connection with vital world problems, I am saying to you as I am saying to myself, let us highly resolve to be the masters of our own souls and to make our inner life and its outward manifestation a positive influence for good in the world. In this way, if we have access to those hidden sources of power that earnest seeking and right living will make available to us, we shall make the most of our lives whether they are lived in places high or low. Let us remember, that education is one continuing process from infancy to the end or the fullfillment of life and that these artificial stoppings called commencement with their diplomas, caps, and gowns do not suggest a completion of what should be a life-long expierience. Sincerely yours, —I. L. Sheaffer, Principal