High-resolution, full color images available online
Search, browse, read, and print yearbook pages
View college, high school, and military yearbooks
Browse our digital annual library spanning centuries
Support the schools in our program by subscribing
Privacy, as we do not track users or sell information
Page 6 text:
“
Competition Stimulates Ambition To Achieve Goals Small World of High School Typifies Universal Challenges The world and the high school cafeteria are both overcrowded, noisy, colorful, jammed with weary, hungry, clamoring, gossiping people. One difference between them is that in the big, wide world, no one saves us a place in line. To get one, we must fight for it, compete against many other determined people. Life is competition and every person a competitor from the moment he is bom until he dies. A newborn baby is a competitor, struggling against nature for survival, and, as he grows up, he finds that to get anything, he must compete for it. Perhaps he wants his mother’s attention, his neighbor’s sandpail, a new bicycle, a paper route. Later it’s a place on the basketball team, a girl or boy friend, a part in a play. Whatever his desire, he can only realize it by struggling for it. The world, whether symbolized by London, Tibet or Okemos, is a bevy of rivals, each claiming the right of equal opportunity. Any normal individual begins his life with the ability to be a competitor. All he needs is the knowledge that he cannot remain static but must compete. To be successful in competing, however, to attain one’s objective, it is necessary to compete more effectively than one’s opponents. Life could be compared to a giant game of chess, with each player attempting to maneuver the others and to avoid being jumped. As in chess, to play the game well, one must know the rules and have had adequate practice. School might be considered the training ground, a miniature playing board for prospective competitors. It provides the incentive for rivalry, challenging students through many channels. In elementary school students are encouraged to study musical instruments. As they become more skilled, rivalry develops over chair positions in band or orchestra; contests arise for the greatest number of merits or demerits. Junior high and high school musicians attend district and state solo and ensemble festivals to compete against instrumentalists from different areas. Budding artists struggle to surpass one another, as well as Rembrandt and Picasso. Typists aim for 90 words a minute, and shorthand students experience a taste of the extremely competitive field of secretarial work. The manually-skilled contest for the best absence-slip holder or wood work in industrial arts classes. Extra-curricular activities, such as debate, language clubs, chess club, although not ultra-competitive at Okemos, stimulate competition. Drama Club is one of the obvious examples; all-school tryouts are held biannually for club plays. Competition is stiff, as there is always an excess of actors over parts. Athletics form perhaps the most popular type of competitive activity. The 1964 Olympics exemplified peaceful rivalry on a world-wide scale, with athletes competing for personal fame and the honor of their countries. School contests in wrestling, baseball, basketball and football compare physical prowess and spectator spirit and sportsmanship. Intra-school rivalry is encouraged at pep rallies and assemblies. The primary purpose of school, of course, is to inspire intellectual development. Desire for impressive scholastic achievement has become an impetus for intense competition. The overabundance of qualified college applicants has resulted in increased stress on high grades and scholastic aptitude. Students compete to achieve the 3.3 average necessary to join Honor Society. Michigan Math Prize Competition and the annual Science Fair afford occasions to compare scientific excellence. Students who intend to enter a profession may take co-operative training, attending classes in the morning and working in business or hospitals in the afternoon, to gain a realistic, unsheltered conception of actual competition. This year the yearbook staff members are also on co-op in order to learn about the publishing field. Graduation from high school or college does not herald the end of competition. One must then compete, for a job, compete to hold the job, run a business, make a profit, compete in every class and walk of life, from bricklaying to stock handling. Politics especially is noted for inspiring vicious competition, as was seen this year in the national election and, on a smaller scale, in the OHS mock election. In world politics, the East and West contend for top place, each trying to attain total victory for communism or democracy. Even love, the “gentle emotion,” is characterized by challenge. As Alexander Pope wrote, “What dire offense from amorous courses springs; what mighty contests rise from trivial things.” Throughout the school year, the spirit of competition grows from the trivial to the momentous, from the first day of school to the last. 2
”
Page 5 text:
“
OKEMOS HIGH SCHOOL Okemos Road Okemos, Michigan 1965 Editor: Roberta Flmhalter Adviser: s-, ''N — Miss Marcia Roznango Photography Editor: Copy writer: Carolyn lishel TOMAHAWK Volume 37
Are you trying to find old school friends, old classmates, fellow servicemen or shipmates? Do you want to see past girlfriends or boyfriends? Relive homecoming, prom, graduation, and other moments on campus captured in yearbook pictures. Revisit your fraternity or sorority and see familiar places. See members of old school clubs and relive old times. Start your search today!
Looking for old family members and relatives? Do you want to find pictures of parents or grandparents when they were in school? Want to find out what hairstyle was popular in the 1920s? E-Yearbook.com has a wealth of genealogy information spanning over a century for many schools with full text search. Use our online Genealogy Resource to uncover history quickly!
Are you planning a reunion and need assistance? E-Yearbook.com can help you with scanning and providing access to yearbook images for promotional materials and activities. We can provide you with an electronic version of your yearbook that can assist you with reunion planning. E-Yearbook.com will also publish the yearbook images online for people to share and enjoy.
