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

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OAK LEAVES 1943 INVISIBLE VALUES You Who are about to receive your diplomas from Oak Grove will grasp them eagerly as something you have studied and labored for since the day you entered this School. If they were only th-e visible mor-occo case and certiiicate which your eyes see, they would be worth less than last J une's morning paper. The real values of your diploma are invisible and time- less. The direct and perman-ent Worth to each of you is in the quantity and quality of honest academic Work which you have done. But there is a deeper, more significant value in each diploma and it must be your re- sponsibility to see that that valu-e increases through you. The reason that the Oak Grove diploma has a value around the World, is. because year after year, Oak Grove Graduates have done honest and distinctive Work in col- lege and in life. You of this class who have exulted over your honors in b-eing accepted Weeks ago, and Without entrance examinations, by the lead- ing colleges of this country, must realize that even though th-e records which Went to those colleges had reported each of you as standing highest this year, yet such record here would be m-eaningless unless the standards of Oak Grove were known to be high, and unless, year after year, th-e graduates of previous classes had done a quality of scholastic Work and conducted th-eir lives with an honor that commend Oak Grove to the col- leges. You have inherited these honors and these privileges at a time in history when the progress of civilization depends upon your generation. If th-e hundreds of thousands of our boys of your age must forego their academic and professional training, then our girls must have only the more education for the research and leadership that will be needed in the terrific social and economic changes We shall see immediately after this 'titainic War. You can do nothing more lastingly patriotic than to look ahead to those needs and then Work diligently to prepare yourself to meet the demands of your day. In receiving the diploma of Oak Grove you accept a deep and lasting responsibility and challenge to so study and so conduct yourselves that no future Oak Grove girl may ever b-e denied the privileges that you are en- joying, because you failed to live up to your inheritance. When you look at this diploma in years to come, think of the loving labor of devoted teachers who have h-eld you .to high standards, think of the work and character of a long line of Oak Grove graduat-es who have given an in- visible value to your diploma, and then watch that you also hold high the ideals and standards of Oak Grove that we are placing in your hands. ROBERT EVERETT OWEN. 7

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OAK LEAVES 1943 WORK HOLIDAY One, two, three-heave --and a smug old rock reluctantly takes leave of Mother Earth. Another out, someone exclaims j ubilantly, but there ar-e acres of them still to comef' Not far from this scene comes the clatter of a lawn mower and the delicious odor of new mown grass, while a lusty yell reaches heaven from an earnest laborer besmudged with dirt as a new row of bricks is uncovered. In anoth-er direction future landscape gardeners are on their knees learning the difference between Witch grass andl choice perennials, while another gang merrily rolls the tennis courts. Pickaxes and shovels sing through the air to come down with a resounding ring on the impenetrable pile beneath. Then we climb aboard to ride singing to the new terrace which this loam is building. The big rid-e is on the return wh-en we clatter swiftly up the hill. This is Oak Grove's Work Holiday. The War has brought its shortage of labor here, too, and as spring ad- vanced we still saw befor-e us some of the foundations of old Bailey yet to be removed, gardens to be planted, riding trails to be cleared of little stones, lawns to be mowed and innumerable other projects waiting for the trained men who had long done it all so smoothly and unobtrusively. Some- where we got the idea of a Work Holiday and our Principals were joyfully swamped when the whole School volunteered. And that is one of the big ideas about our C.S.V. and S.S.V. projects of this year-everything is vol- untary. Of course our Principals held to their rule of first things first - meaning lessons, but w-e did have one session and got projects accepted for all our gymnasium classes, as each girl signed up for the project she knew most about or fancied most. Thus combining the joys of outdoor activity with the much needed labor, our Work Holiday has accomplished much more than its original purpose, as figures in slacks and dungarees, laden with their heavy artillery of brooms, rakes, spades and other such weapons scurry towards the chosen scenes of activity. In no time the volunteers are organized into orderly crews and the work begins. 'Tis a most delightful new feeling at the end of the day, arms sunburned, muscles deliciously weary and hands sometimes blistered, to gather at the Rendezvous where the prevailing odors of sizzling hot hamburgers bring joy to the appetites of the ravenous throng. As yet, we have had only two of these Work Holidays but on observing their overwhelming success, not only in doing our part for the war effort, but also in the new friendships that have grown out of the necessity of team- work and unity in all our projects, we look forward eagerly to many more, and hope Work Holidays may continue at Oak Grove long after there is any national emergency to call for them. 9