Ruperts Land Girls School - Eagle Yearbook (Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada)

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THE EAGLE 21 1 4 hitnrittl Individuality is the salt of common life. You may have to live in a crowd, but you do not have to live like it nor subsist on its food. One of the most important influences of Rupert's Land on its girls is the help it supplies in the development of their individuality. We in Rup- ert's Land are fortunate in having this oppor- tunity to develop our own personalities - an opportunity not afforded to such an extent to the students in schools of a larger size. where large numbers hinder the early start of such development, because more attention is paid to them as a mass than as individuals. When the child is very young, before start- ing school, she has a strong individuality col- ored by the influence of the parents. Once our school life begins development also begins, and as we are not completely prepared to make our own decisions and form our own ideas, we at- tach ourselves to a group of equally confused friends, and in life, for several years, it is the gang that is important - not the individual. There are seldom any serious disagreements among the ideas of the gang members, and when such begin to appear, one may depend on its being caused by the Hrst signs of adolescence, which is, as most of us agree, a very confusing age. It is when this adolescence stage is reached that young people want to be like the gang and get they start to think about being them- selves toog as they grow older this feeling of wanting their own individual personalities grows and grows. Unless they are unusual this growth continues the rest of their lives. This all-important individuality is the major cause of rifts and clashes between people. Teamwork and individualism are opposing fac- tors, but the importance of each cannot be over- looked. People with their own ideas and ideals find it hard to understand those of people from whom they differ. Education leads us if not to sympathize with at least to understand points of View that differ from our own. It is this difficulty to understand other people and at the same time retain one's own individuality that can be blamed for most disagreements. Then, too, individuality is the essence of democracy, in fact, it is the mainspring of the whole democratic way of life. It forms the backbone of the freedom which we enjoy today in spite of the threats to it which have arisen and are still arising. Every individual in many countries of the world has the privilege of hav- ing his say in the government when he becomes of age. Every single person in our country is allowed to think and speak freely and also en- joys freedom of the press. We are all allowed to have our own religion. We call these liber- ties privileges because, although every person should be allowed to have his own individual- ity, even now regimes threaten to quash these liberties. We are in the post-war period of the worst war the world has ever known, but even now after one menace has been removed another looms on the horizon - that of Communism. Today we all hear much about this threat and it fits into this editorial because under this system people are not allowed to be individuals. This system of regimentation allows a few men to rule everything concerning the lives of all the people who are not allowed freedom of the press, or even fredom of thinking, in fact, with no political fredom at all, how can they be in- dividuals? The loss of our valued individuality can be a dangerous thing, too. What better example can be found than the danger of a fear or anger- maddened mole of people who, losing all sense of proportion, because individuality has been lost, cause wild demonstrations and riots? Nothing can be more important than a devel- opment of this often lost characteristic so neces- sary in life. That is why this special chance that we are given at Rupert's Land to develop it is, we think, one of the most important aspects of our school life. The girls who attend this school are not just rows of faces above green tunics, but girls whose various personalities, abilities, and faults differentiate them from each other in the way that today, although similar to, can never be quite identical to yesterday and tomorrow. THE EDITORS.

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20 RUPERTJS LAND GIRLS, SCHOOL Photo by H. White. Back Row-Shelagh McKnight, Peggy Musgrove, Madeline Blight, Miss Lucas, Susan Clifford, Paula Munro, Donna Armstrong, Janet Cameron. Front Row-Ruth Swatland, Alison Govan, Miss Turner, Barbara Cameron, Shannon Hall. fllllagamsziiw Exvrntiur, 1947-42 .ADVISER TO THE EDITORS ..,.,,... ,, .,,.,.,..,,........,,.,,,,..,,,.,.,,,.,....,,,,....,.,,....,.,.,.,..., Miss Turner EDITORS ...,... .....,,....,.......,....... ....... B a rbara Cameron, Alison Govan, Ruth Swatland BUSINESS MANAGERS ...,. .....,.... M iss Lucas, Paula Munro, Peggy Musgrove SPORTS ,...........,.,.......,,..,.......,.,s......,. ,.,,,..,.,.,...,...,,...,,.,.., ,..,. S h elagh McKnight, Mary Tucker PHOTOGRAPHY ....,....,,. Donna Armstrong, Joyce Beriham, Elaine Tempest, Carol Warner RECORDING EVENTS .......,,.....,...............,,.,..,.,.....,.....,..,...,..........., Judy Adamson, Shannon Hall ART EDITORS ..........,.............. ...... J ill Baker, Janet Cameron, Jane Wallace ADVERTISING CONVENERS ....,................,....,..,,.,,..,,.,.........,,,., Madeleine Blight, Susan Clifford ADVERTISING COMMITTEE Shirley Anderson Lucy Hooker Paula Munro Helen Powell Joanne Booker Pat Joy Peggy Musgrove Beth Southam Isabel Briercliffe June Kobar Gay Newman Jeanne Gorrell Dorothy McClay Doris Perry FORM REPRESENTATIVES Gail Florance Marilyn McClaSkey Ruth Simonds Barbara Risk

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RUPERT,S LAND GIRLS' SCHOOL 152:61 CEM In saying good-bye to its twenty-fifth Head Girl, Barbara Cameron, and in looking forward moments of Prize-Giving, a few days later, and then the new Head Girl, having received her pin from the hands of the retiring Head Girl, assumes her responsibilities, although she has no formal duties to undertake until school re- assembles in September. One speculates as to what goes on in the mind of that new Head Girl during her summer holidays, somehow, during that time, she seems to prepare herself for the job of giving leadership, not only to her school- Land is reminded that the office of Head Girl has become not merely a tradition but also an integral part of the life of the school. Voting is conducted on a day early in June, on the mod- ern lines of proportional representation and the transferable vote. The announcement of the successful candidate is one of the most exciting mates generally, but even more particularly to the dozen who represent the four school Houses and form the School Council. It is a fine conclusion to school life, and although this article is chiefly concerned with expressing gratitude for services loyally rendered, one realizes that the Head Girl herself must be aware that she has had opportunities that many must envy to put the stamp of her own personality on the year that has so specially belonged to her. BARBARA CAMERON As a student of history, herself, Barbara will approve of this backward glance, this attempt to interpret the future in the light of the past. The six years that she has spent at R.L.S. have developed a person of all-round interests: Barbara is some- times inclined to deplore her lack of a special talent or hobby, not realizing how fortunate she is in having no blind spots. Incidentally, she refutes most successfully the popular belief that an only child must be spoilt, for Barbara is as co-operative and unselfish a person as one could hope to see. When she leaves, with her parents, to make their home at the coast, she plans to attend the University of British Columbia, and, if possible, to take a course in journalism. Children interest Barbara also-in fact she is torn between wanting 'to be a child psychologist and a journalist. The only suggestion that we can make to Barbara is that she might contrive to raise a large family, psycho-analyse them, and work on a newspaper in her spare moments. It sounds a busy life, but Barbara likes to be busy. She has been active in her own House, Dalton, has played on the second basketball team, and has demonstrated considerable literary ability as vice-president of the Literary Society, winner of the Senior Short Story competition, and co-editor of this Year Book and the previous one. Barbara has a keen sense of humor, an ability to get things done effectively with a minimum of fuss, considerable tact, and a pleasantgeasy graciousness-all of which adds up to make the Babs of whom everyone is fond. She confesses that she will hate to say good-bye to her friends in Winnipeg, and that she will find it hard to exchange the prairies for the mountains and the sea, we cannot imagine that it will be long before Barbara has many new friends, but we hope that she will always keep a special corner in her heart for Winnipeg, and especially for the school which she has served so well. S. LL. T.