Saint Pauls School - Conifer Yearbook (Covington, LA)

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Vicior Miguel Kawas Saluiaiorian 1-

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I 97 I Valediciorg Speech Ladies and C-enTlemen, Disfinguished guesTs. MosT respecfed faculTy, Very Unique fellow sTudenTs: I humbly Thank you for The enviable privilege of being able To represenf in a very small way Today my Senior class, The graduaTing class of ST. Pauls l97I. To Try and briefly reveal whaT The pasT several years, and for some, The lasT six years, has been like will be an iniusTice To bofh The sTudenTs and The Teachers who have so greaTly affecfed each ofhers' lives and ideals -for l know ThaT each indi- viduals conTribuTion To ST, Pauls as an insTiTuTion, and To Their friends and fellow sTudenTs. will never be Tully recognized. To These many silenT and deserving, and To The memories of RoberT Meyers and Frank Barreca, I dedicaTe This valedicTory. WhaT was if like To have been a member of The senior class? Whaf was iT like To have been a freshman? IT was looking up To The Seniors of '68 and acfually craving The Time when we would fill Their shoes. And iT was iniTiaTion. IT was having winners in every phase of endeavor To admire and emulaTe. IT was The beginning of our quesTioning marked by The expecTaTion ThaT our quesTions would some day be an- swered, perhaps as Seniors. Our Sophomore year saw a TransiTion from observance To acTion. We became infer- esTed in sporfs. in exTra-curriculars, and even in academics, and individually began To sense in whaT direcTion our lives would Take us. CollecTively. and perhaps mosf meaningfully, iT was a Time ThaT marked The solidificafion of friendships ThaT would lasT a life-Time. IT was also a Time of preparaTion for fuTure leadership. buf even aT ThaT sfage, our class was The essence of ST. Pauls, The driving force behind iT. and everyone knew iT. We were learning from men like Coach Jacobs, PaT McGreevy. Gene Benneff, Cam deGravelle, and Coach Pefers ThaT we had a proud Tradifion To follow and ThaT we had beTTer be ready To assume The acTual leadership of The school as Jun- iors. On The oTher side of The specTrum were men like Mr. McClure, Uncle Bob, who sTimulaTed inTeresT in science Through his warm personalify, personal enfhusiasm and frequenf bursTs of eloquence. And Mr. Meiia. our revered and respecfed inTer-' prefer of GeomeTry. And Mr. Palmer who TaughT us enjoyable English in a creaTive aTmosphere. Especially close To This Senior class are The Two individuals ThaT our class asked To address us aT our ring ceremony, Brofher Dale Guillof and Brofher Goerge Moore. I feel our sophomore year was in a way The happiesT and mosT uni- fied ThaT we spenf TogeTher as a class. As Juniors and laTer as Seniors we began To feel The effecfs of our decisions and found ThaT life would indeed be a maTTer of compromise, ThaT we could noT always have whaT we wanTed or whaT we believed To be fair. In varying degrees, we observed hypocracy and prefense in our socieTy, in our edu- cafional insTiTuTion. and in ourselves. We originaTed some correcfive programs aT ST. Paul's and Tried To increase iTs abiliTy To fulfill a sTudenT's real needs Through our own sfuclenf governmenf and cerTain faculfy-sTudenT commiTTees. Somefimes we' were moderately successful: many Times we were disillusioned. ln The final analysis, l believe if was wiTh ourselves. We sTill were no closer To The answers we had searched for and iT seemed ThaT The high goals we had seT for ourselves would never be reached. We iumped up a nofch in aThleTics. and in refrospecf, found ThaT winning wasn'T whaT counTed mosT. ThaT individual realizafion and growTh were more imporTanT. There were experiences Through which we earned infangible rewards ThaT couldn'T be Taken away or dissolved by a single loss or a series of defeaTs. IT is a TribuTe To This parficular Senior Class ThaT we foughf back hardesT when we were down The mosT. We didn'T hang our heads. We were waiTing for our Senior year. And come iT did. wiTh success in pracfically every field, Though a disTricT champion- ship somehow eluded us, we puf forfh a Tremendous efforT in foofball, baskeTball, and Track wiTh cerTain individuals receiving ouTsTanding recogniTion. Our depart- menT produced some excepfional experiences like Don'T Drink The WaTer and Cele- brafion. Many seniors won academic recogniTion for ST. Pauls by disTinguishing Themselves aT The Regional and STaTe l.iTerary Rally and Regional and STaTe Science and Social Science Fairs. OT course backing us Throughouf iT all were our senior Teachers. Individuals like our aTTracTive Mrs. LaCour, a real lady for whom we all have a special feeling. Mr. Pra- zynski, a conservaTive Cajun, who TaughT us ThaT a person is only as good as The crawfish he eafs. And Mr. lhoenes. The Yankee hailing from Milwaukee and oTher foreign counfries. whose classes, To say The leasT, were rioTous. And BroTher STeve, Brofher Jeff and BroTher Emmef, who each helped us in so many ways as prefecTs, Teachers and friends. YeT for all of iT, we did have our problems. We became parTially disillusioned wiTh cerfain areas of our educaTion and found ThaT we were eifher Too apaTheTic or seemingly powerless To change Them significanTly. ln shorf, we began To confronf life as iT is. complex and open To many inTerpreTaTions. As our lasT Two years drew To an end. our idenTiTies, our capabilifies, our aTTiTudes became more concrefe. as each individual was progressively formed and revealed To Those who knew him besT. l Think perhaps our greaTesT realizaTion came when we each in our own way discov- ered ThaT no maTTer how good an educafional sysfem is, any sysTem is, ThaT iT will noT sacrifice The whole ThaT iT serves for The individual: ThaT in some insTances jus- Tice is noT an absolufeg and ThaT in The final analysis. an individual musT earn whaT he received. and noT expecT someone or someThing else in The form of a sysfem To sancfion his acTions or saTisfy his individual needs. And so This is parT of The knowledge we carry from ST. Pauls info The fufure. The VieTnam conflicf, civil righTs, welfare, ecological crimes, and prejudices ThaT some in every shade of race, creed and color are iusT some of The major problems wiTh which we will be direcTly confronfed in The near fuTure: and we will be expecfed To solve Them iusT as we expecTed Those before us To solve Them. Our educaTion is noT finished: iT has progressed. College sTill awaiTs mosT of us. We leave as we enfered. plagued by doubTs and fears, confronTed by new quesfions. yeT now meeTing life on a more equal basis. supporfed by new friendships and love, knowing we have To make our lives whaT we wanT Them To be, ThaT no one else can or should be expecTed To achieve for us. knowing our final saTisfacTion will come, noT Through ofhers' recogniTion of whaT we have accomplished or who we are, buf Through our own final undersfanding of whaT each of us, in his own way has Tried To fulfill Through his life. And has in acTualiTy achieved. And so l wish To Thank The resT of my class for every inch of pride I have garnered from Them here aT ST. Pauls, for every experience and every memory of whaT iT means To have been a member of This class. The graduaTing Class of l97l. l would like To end with a few borrowed words from Rod McKuen: Love is a sweeT Thing caughT in a momenT And held in a golden eye. You can borrow iT. buT never own iT Affer awhile iT says goodbye . . . Heavy's The hearT ThaT has To Turn and say goodbye, Buf as we love so do we learn. I'lI say goodbye . . . l'm iusT a man and nofhing more . . . While sTill believing, l'll close The door. Because anofher road is calling, I'II say goodbye. Michael Wayne Beshoner - '7I Valedicforian

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I 97 I Seniors Q l if ,fl And now down To fhose posf-high school problems and plans. Reuben Mayronne and John Galle si? for a few momenfs and cogifafe upon The lulure and lhe vasfness of lhe possibililies.