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

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OAK LEAVES CHALLENGE TO COUNCILORS What are our standards? For what are we striving? As a school? As students? As teachers? As councilors? Are our standards the outer sign or the inner value? Are we here striving for knowledge from books-or for living, working knowledge of life? Are we striving for perfection for ourselves or for a spirit of th-e group which will help each one of us to be bigger than we ever could be alon-e? Are we striving for goodness as something to show off in the spirit of Jack Horner and the plum, something to make us feel much, much holier than thou ? Or are we honestly trying to open the door of life? Do we want to exist through life, blaming others for our own fbarrenness, or are we striving at last to become instruments of God's will, or the fullness of life? Are we bringing the great sweeping spirit of life to the earth, or are we merely blind holders of the great gift, who do not dream of the magnificent power of the thing that exists within us? Life is bigger than any one of us. Life is a force which has climbed through the eons and which we now possess through no will of our own. We had nothing whatever to do with our coming to this earth. The gift of life was placed within us and we may remain unaware of its power or we may awaken to it. That does li-e within our power. To grasp hold of life is to grasp the power which has conceiv-ed the potentialities within us. All the big problems find their solution there and all the little prob- lems dissolve. We have been trying to define school spirit, but that seems more impossible the more I think of it. School spirit is too big to capture and put into Words. That is like trying to put Oak Grove-all of it-into words. Words are poor things when it comes to life. Our perception has to tell us. Isn't our school spirit in the end, the ability of each one of us to grasp life and to live it with all th-e sincerity in our hearts? J. B. MENTAL MIRRORS Perhaps one of the hardest things to face is failure. Occasionally all of us take inventory before an imaginary mirror and? behold ourselves, not as we would like to be, but as we are, in a stark, vivid picture entirely devoid of any of the softening lights which We are so prone to add. If this reflection shows only failure, it is indeed a critical situation which calls for immediate and intelligent action. At this juncture there are only two possible roads to follow, an effortless resignation to and acknowledg- ment of defeat, or a determination not to be beaten, but instead to make this failure serve as a stepping-stone to success. Contrary to popular belief, it is not the weak alone who fail, rather it is the weak who accept failure as their ultimate end. Many strong and 5

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OAK LEAVES Q N , S W li.. 1' 1 .53 S sf OAK GROVE MARCHES ON-AND UP While we are all in ecstacy as we watch the walls of our beautiful new recitation wing rise almost like magic and we can hardly wait to christen those spacious new recitation rooms, yet our principals modestly and smil- ingly tell us that the worth of a School is not in the elegance or extent of its buildings but rather in the quality and power of its students not only while they are in school but as long as they shall live and that on-e's students must always be finer than one's buildings. We who are practical minded certainly think this is a challenge to us, for nothing is being left undone to provide efiiciency, comfort and inspiration. The latest equip- ment for ventilation and heating is being installed, and the walls will have the best treatment for acoustics so that teachers and students may always speak in those sweet and gentle voices which Mrs. Owen tries so diligently to have us acquire. Besides four spacious classrooms more than thirty feet long, there will be two smaller recitation rooms, a Reading Room for our reference work, rest rooms for faculty and students, two new labora- tories with individual tabl-es beside a window for each Biology student, a room for Arts and Crafts and beyond that a studio over forty feet long with a fireplace which should add plenty of atmosphere for artistic temperaments. Even though we did not have such fine recitation rooms, the charming arcade which brings us to the New Wing is such an architectural gem that it should bring us with glad hearts to even the dullest lessons in Mathe- matics. The arcade has been so arranged that through its arched windows we not only see the East Gardens with their flowers and the great pines be- yond, but through the west windows we also have the panorama of our own Kennebec Valley. Other schools may build recitation buildings as fine as this New Wing but we have never seen one where every window holds so much beauty of gardens, meadows, groves, winding river, and moun- tains on the far horizon. We love it, we carry it in our hearts when we graduate from Oak Grove, and y-et we can leave it all for those who follow us. Rejoice as we may, therefore, in our new recitation building, in the depths of our hearts we still feel that the grandest thing about it is that the New Wing is fortunate enough to be built on our own beautiful hilltop. 4

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OAK LEAVES noble people have faced discouragement and disillusionment, but they would not permit themselves to becom-e entangled in its grasp, and have emerged only richer and finer for having met and conquored this enemy. Let us be able to face our mental looking glass with honest eyes and say: I am a success because I have profited by my failures ! SHIRLEY WHEELER, '39. BOWDOIN COLLEGE HONORS OAK GROVE Some of the very pleasantest events of the year include our neighboring colleges from which we enjoy many court-esies as well as many guests. We feel much honored that Oak Grove has been selected by Bowdoin College and the Art Museum there to receive as a permanent loan some very inter- esting pieces. We are especially thrilled to welcome to our hilltop the marble statue of the Lost Pleiad who is to be placed in an alcove of windows where she may find her sisters on starlit nights. Among the other classical casts included in the collection that is coming to Oak Grove are Apollo Belvedere and Aphrodite of Melos who will grace the new Art Room, a Caryatid of the Erectheum, the Laokoon Group, Niobe, and Artemis of Versailles. We are delighted to receive this collec- tion from Bowdoin tCollege to add to the interesting ones we have had for some years from the Smithsonian Institute. We hope that Oak Grove's love for beauty may continue to attract other valuable gifts from museums and institutions that have something to share with a school like Oak Grove. . A PROVERB We all have stood on the edge of a field and watched the grass, ranging in color from green to brown, softly waving against the sky. Here and there the field is dotted with a clump of bushes. To the left, right, and front the field is bounded by a stone wall and a line of wild shrubs. For a great distance, all my eyes can see are these fields, divided by rambling stone walls. The soft, long grass bends under the breeze. I watch it, entrancedg how like mankind it is . . . the grass is not strong, it has no framework to hold it up, therefore it bends. If man has no strong will, he follows the crowd, the leaders. A strong body is nothing without a healthy mind. It has nothing within it to make it do good things, it is at the mercy of those who are strong. Next time you watch the long grass--think of the Chinese proverb: Soft grass follows the wind , and make whatever resolutions you will. CONSTANCE MORIN, '39. 6