Oakwood Collegiate Institute - Oracle Yearbook (Toronto Ontario, Canada)

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VALEDICTORY Mr. Hobbs, honoured guests, parents and friends, teachers, and fellow-graduates. Knowledge advances by steps, and not by leaps. Workmen erecting a building spend many months labouring under the surface, digging, measuring, pouring cement, checking plans; then, suddenly, the building itself springs up. Yet it is the careful preparation of the found- ation which is the important thing, without which the building cannot stand. The steps which at first seem to produce little visible results are the most necessary ones. In the same way, Oakwood has given us the foundation upon which we can build our future edifice. A gardener spends many weeks doing back-breaking work without any tangible results, digging, planting, sow- ing, watering; then suddenly in the spring, beautiful flowers burst into bloom. Oakwood too has make us work hard, often seemingly without result, until suddenly we find our flowers of achievement being recognized tonight. Thus in education too the foundation is the important thing. What we may build on it, what we make our trip into life is up to us. Knowledge advances by steps, and not by leaps. We have climbed the steps to the knowledge that Oak- wood has offered us: sometimes lightly, sometimes agoniz- ingly, and although this evening may seem like a leap, we must not forget that it was the little steps which have brought us here. Thank you, Oakwood, for the work you have put into preparing those steps for us. You have molded us, in the most influential years of our lives, into individuals with an ability to live in our complex society. You have pro- vided us with many opportunities to become individual: by intellectual, physical and cultural teaching, as well as by the example of your own staff. The moving speeches of three great men of Oakwood history, who retired last spring, have not failed to make a deep impression on us. On parting from you, we are not the Tim of Benjamin Franklin ' s wise words: Tim was so clever that he could name a horse in nine languages; so stupid that he bought a cow to ride on . . . for you have presented us with many different problems and their solutions: problems which we will encounter in our future lives and which you have made easy for us to tackle successfully. Our first frightened step into Oakwood ' s life was one of confusion: the vastness of these halls! there were so many things to remember! The number of our rooms, the number of our lockers, the number of our combination lock as well as that of our friends, the shortest way down to the Chelsea buns. As the fog gradually cleared, we became aware of a gaunt figure haunting the halls, whose very shrugging shoulders instilled fear in our hearts, but who ruled the Oakwood tribe with wisdom and insight. We climbed the second step somewhat more confidently. As the work became ever more demanding and the extra- curricular program ever more interesting, we were soon caught up in the harrowing experience of trying to decide which clubs and activities we could join and still leave a few minutes in the morning to copy someone else ' s homework. 12 Upon reaching the third step, grade 11, our self-confi- dence and sense of responsibility increased, for we were now in the senior school and could ourselves make quips about the grade nines getting smaller every year. We watched fascinatedly as little white pith-balls swayed back and forth and became very adept at forging signatures on the attendance pad. In our fourth year we were made acutely aware of problems of more serious nature: those of racial and religious prejudices Through these history projects we gained a new insight into the necessity for close co-opera- tion with all our fellow-man. I think we should thank Oakwood especially for initiating this program of tolerance on a small scale, for it brought us to an awareness which is ever more necessary in our present world and the world of the future, when we shall be its adult citizens. But perhaps it is our last step towards our goal at Oakwood which is stamped most vividly in our memories: the teachers ' frequent morbid warnings about the mon- ster , the June exams, the folk-song spirit invading Oak- wood, the sad feeling that everything we did was for the last time — we hoped — , the last day of school and the teachers ' rendition of Hail to Bill Tovell , the harrowing two weeks before gaping jaws swallowed us up, the still more harrowing weeks before the results came out, and the final sigh of relief which cleared the path ahead. There are some questions, though, which Oakwood never did answer for us. We never could figure out where Santa MacDonald got all his jokes from, why Skipper Hill always said Take out a piece of paper when he really meant pieces, or why the boys always had such interesting health classes while we had to suffer through the facts of life. One thing we did learn, though, was how Mr. Tovell begot those famed curtains on either side of me. But if Oakwood has left its stamp on us, we have left ours on Oakwood, too. We have stepped up the path of Oakwood ' s tradition to maintain and surpass it. In our athletics, we have a long string of cups and distinctions to prove Oakwood ' s outstanding qualities in this field. Our music department has grown to incorporate the many bud- ding musicians, and has provided us with memorable music nights. Our drama groups have brought Oakwood into the limelight of competitions. We have contributed with our pennies to many charities and with our enthusiasm to Christmas projects and book drives. Our scholastic record has been well sustained, as was evidenced tonight. So, dear fellow-graduates, as we are leaving here to- night we say a hearty thank you to Oakwood for the preparation to life it has given us during these past five or more years. Let us build on that foundation and be a credit to Oakwood. In whatever field of learning we are now, whether we are continuing a foiTnal education or not, our process of learning should never cease. Let us, there- fore, resolve to climb higher, by steps: to make the big leaps possible. On your behalf, may I now say thank you to Oakwood, and Au Revoir . Ursula Lummis

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Awards to Students of Middle and Lower School Chaim Shustik Marisa Castellarin Geoivc Iwaniuk Bernard Marlow Peter iMunk Paul Engcl Tapani Nousiainen Richard Sutton Isadore Horowitz Donna Lewis Enn Edasi Warren Bouroeois The Board oF Education Centennial Scholarship For General ProFiciencv in Grade XIL The W. V. Tovell Prize For General ProFiciencv in Grade XII. The R. A. Gray Memorial Prize For English and His- tory, a bequest oF the late R. A. Gray. The R. A. Gray Memorial Prize lor Mathematics and Science. The W. E. Hanna Prize For History, a bequest oF the late W. E. Hanna. The Gordon Hepburn Prize For Geography. The Dorothy Kilpatrick Prize For English, presented by Miss Dorothy Kilpatrick. The Board oF Education Centennial Scholarship For ProFiciencv in Grade XI. The W. Y. Tovell Prizes tor General ProFiciencv in Grade XI. Independent Order oF Odd Fellows, Albert Lodge Award. Compliments of S. A. McQuoid DRUGGIST 1254 ST. CLAIR AVE. W., TORONTO LE 3-2121 Phones LE 5-0507 BRITNELL ' S for BOOKS you are more likely to find the books you wont = BRITNELL ' S 765 Yonge Street 924-3321 Shirley Zucker Robert Pinkerton Brigitte Waisberg Michael Panturescu ■ Leslie Levy A.xel Breuer Rose Singer Allan Sternberg Craig Mark John Katie David Frank Helen Ostro Gloria Harvey Elizabeth Mason Melanie Sutherland Shirley Zucker — The Board oF Education Centennial Scholarships For General ProFiciency in Grade X. — The Board oF Education Centennial Scholarships For General ProFiciency in Grade IX. Tovell Prizes ProFiciency in — The W. V lor General Grade X. — The W. V. Tovell Prizes For General ProFiciencv in Grade IX. — The Gordon Hepburn Prize For Geography. — The O a k w o o d Parents ' Prize For English and His- tory in Grade X. — The O a k w o o d Parents ' Prize For Mathematics and Science in Grade X. — The Oak w o o d Parents ' Prize For English and His- ton, ' in Grade IX. — The O a k w o o d Parents ' Prize For Mathematics and Science in Grade IX. — The Girls ' Club Junior Trophy. R. A. Taylor OPTOMETRIST 986 St. Clair Ave. West LE 5-6443 Evenings Hours: 9:30 - 12:00 Thursday 7:00 - 8:30 1:30 - 5:30 Others By Appointment Glenholme Variety 1057 ST. CLAIR AVE. W. LE 1-9443 A VARIETY OF SCHOOL SUPPLIES GIFTS - TOYS

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GRADS 13