Oak Grove Coburn High School - Oak Leaves Yearbook (Vassalboro, ME)

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OAK LEAVES by two of the students. Some of our French students with a. real feeling for their parts appeared in Moliere's famous comedy Les Femmes Savantes . It was a very wonderful evening for us and we are still quite breathless with all the honor that has come to us, but at the same time we are also working very hard in order that we may continue worthy of the medal which has been presented to us by the Republic of France. WHAT IS YOUR ANSWER? Whether or not a person is a good student, careful Workman or a suc- cessful member of society depends upon his response to this question: Is he interested in what he is doing? The answer of the successful man is always Yes but the failure invariably replies, No , There are two interests which everyone should cultivate in order to be useful to society and neces- sary in his position. He should b-e animated by a dominant urge which will forever demand the best of him as well as his best for others. He should also have a genuine interest in the world in which he lives so that he may find the relation of his duties to the tasks in the World and their relation to forming a b-etter society. 8

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O A K L E A v E s WORLD POWER PRESENTS MEDAL TO OAK GROVE Although it has been well known for some time that the French Depart- ment at Oak Grove has been doing brilliant work, yet it was a thrilling surprise to all of us when we realized that the Republic of France had select- ed Oak Grove among all the private schools in New England upon which to bestow a medal. We had been told that there would be distinguished French guests here on January nineteenth and Oak Grove wanted to honor them by presenting a program entirely in French, but all .the time we felt a little bit of mystery in our preparations as we Worked on Les Femmes Savantes and the speeches we were preparing. As th-e day drew nearer Mrs. Owen told us there was a secret which would please us very much and then she invited us all to the banquet with which the ceremonies were to begin. Among the guests of honor were more than twenty representatives of the French government and Cercle Francais. The banquet was formal but with all the vivacity of our French friends, we shall never forget the dining room that night by candlelight with its international and intensely interesting atmosphere. Our guests gathered again at eight o'clock in the Assembly Hall where Mlle. Guilb-eau welcomed them and the Oak Grove Chorus sang La Marseil- laise. M. Harold Dubord, National Committeeman and friend of Ambassa- dor Andre de la Boulaye, described in gracious terms the work of Oak Grove which had merited this honor by a world power interested in promoting friendly relations with the United States and its best institutions. He spoke in part as follows: For fifteen years I have watched this school on its beautiful hilltop above the winding Kennebec. I have seen it grow under the quiet but far- seeing leadership of Principal and Mrs. Owen, until it led in its own State and established such a wid-e reputation for scholarship, culture and charac- ter development that discriminating parents have sent their daughters not only across the length and breadth of our great country but also from for- eign lands to be trained at Oak Grove. The French Department has been unusual and brilliant for more than ten years. Because of the high quality of both the class and extra-curricula work, because of the excellence shown by Oak Grove students in inter- scholastic competition in French, because of the record of its graduates in four of the famous universities of France, this medal, with the honor which it symbolizes, is awarded to Oak Grove School in the name of the great Re- public of France. M. Jules Savarin delivered an address with the vivacity and noblesse of a French gentleman. M. Rossiter Marcou charmed us by two solos. M. Auguste Bocquel, lecturer and artist, expressed his admiration of Oak Grove in French of literary beauty. The students of Mlle. Guilbeau then entertained for the enjoyment of the guests of honor with a group of French songs, and addresses in French 7

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OAK LEAVES LOUIS SEIZE As a gracious tribute to the culture of the World Power which has pre- sented a Medal to Oak Grove, a period guest room is being furnished with rare pieces of Louis Seize which it has taken months to collect. One of the Hnest pieces is a mahogany desk that formerly belonged to a French Countess. All of this has been made possible through the generosity of Harry Harrison of Worcester, Massa- chusetts, a loyal member of the Board of Managers of Oak Grove. RECOGNITION IN THREE LANGUAGES When letters from distant states and even foreign countries congratu- lated us on the receipt of a medal from the Republic of France, Mrs. Owen said that although great care had been taken in developing a superior French Department, yet equal attention had been spent on the other depart- ments and they could be excellent even though there were no medals for them. Imagine our thrill when we learned in May that in an international anthology of the best poetry by children of all nations, our own Stella Carvell has actually had not one, but three poems selected as the best for the Eng- lish section. Moreover, a special compliment has come from the editor. Stella is a real Oak Grove product who entered Oak Grove in the Junior Department in 1929 when only eleven and whose mother before her was a stud-ent here. Stella had two little poems selected last year for a new an- thology of Modern American poetry. Mrs. Owen is ever ambitious for her girls and it was she who submitted these poems. Yet that is not all. She includ-ed another lovely one, Noc- turne by the brilliant Spanish student Esth-er Arango who was formerly at Oak Grove-and that has al-so been accepted with its English translation by our little Senorita. No school, however large, should expect recognition for brilliant work in more than three different languages in one year. 9