Salve Regina University - Regina Maris Yearbook (Newport, RI)

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Mission Queen, Eileen Schwenk, and court. The first few weeks were hectic. We in- evitably discovered that we were either short credits, or that, because we did not have the gift of bi-location, we were unable to attend two scheduled classes at nine. The year book staff was pulling out its hair wondering how three figures could possibly be stretched into four without robbing a bank. The Glee Club members had a collective case of laryngitis (three concerts in three months). The Dra- matics Club members were worn out just running back and forth from Glee Club and year book meetings. In the midst of all this confusion, the Seniors saw the sun breaking through the clouds. Mr. Cornelius Moore, prominent lawyer and benefactor of the col- lege, donated a new building to become a Senior hall. Innumerable hours spent amid paint and plaster finally produced the cozy, homelike Moore Hall that we had dreamed of. Needless to say, Mr. Moore was the first invited guest to our new home. Our grati- tude to him knows no bounds. Thank you is sincere but inadequate; it is only through our prayers that we can repay Mr. Moore. January to May was one continuous round of exams — mid-years, graduate records, quart- erlies, comprehensives and finals (blessed word!) And then it was June . . . Bacca- laureate Sunday celebrated in the chapel, class day exercises on the terrace, the Commence- ment Ball, and graduation — first and last events that disdain descriptive powers; they arc indelibly engraved on our hearts. Most Senior years are a mixture of glad- ness and sadness, and ours was no exception. It may have been a trifle gladder because our graduation was something extra-special — we claimed the honor of being the first graduates of Salve Regina College. Yet, by the same token, we were sadder than most alma mater- ites, for we were leaving a college that we felt belonged to us in a way that no deed of ownership could surpass. We were truly the pioneers of S. R. C. — the traditions, the clubs, the publications — we had initiated and fos- tered all of them. Our ideals, our laughter, our hopes, our tears had built the spirit of Salve Regina as surely as the bricks and mortar had constructed the building. Future Salve- ites will carry on the traditions we have be- gun. Future Salveites will enlarge and im- prove the work we have started. But none will have that encompassing love and pride in the college that is ours, for that is some- thing that only a first class can know and feel. Court Cotillion Queen. Frances McGuiness, and escort.

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was paid to the highest ranking students who, by virtue of their distinction, were awarded fourrageres. Bishop McVinney, celebrating his twenty-fifth jubilee, was the honored guest at the convocation. Although we looked with longing eyes at the blue and white shoulder braids, the majority of us were preoccupied with mental images of the blue of our sapphire college rings. From September to January we anx- iously regarded our fingers instead of our waistlines. That ring finger simply could not lose or gain any weight! We were as nerv- ous at the Ring Ceremony as candidates for Ph.D ' s. Dressed in collegiate garb, we de- scended the Grand Staircase to the strains of Pomp and Circumstance . When Mother Mary Hilda, R.S.M. slipped the rings on each of our hands, we felt that we were truly aca- demians — at long last we had merited the symbol of higher education. Whenever we look at our rings of blue, that ceremony is recalled to us in all its beauty and impressive- ness. Our ring recalls more than sentimental reminiscences, however, it stands for a way of life — a Catholic way of life which is as much a part of us as breathing. The misty enchantment of the Ring Ceremony was car- ried over into the Sapphire Ball. We chose no queen at this dance, for it was everyone ' s shining hour. As we stepped through the huge symbolic ring in the Great Hall, we had the tingly sensation that you feel when the bells ring in the new year. There were no chimes or whistles, but an intangible some- thing told us that we had entered a new phase of life. February proved to be a very busy month, for it also brought us our first invitation to a formal Valentine Dance at the Naval Acad- emy Preparatory School. The world-famed Pilgrim Virgin Statue visited the college at the end of the month bringing with it its promise of spiritual and temporal favors to those who heed the Fatima message. The Regina Players staged their first pub- lic production, Letters to Lucerne, at Bay- view Academy on April 30. They trod the boards with the aplomb of youthful {Cather- ine Cornells, and proved that our praise of them was justifiable. Mercy Hall was the scene of the Junior Prom — our final dance of the year. Classes ended, the academic year was officially closed with the annual procession to the Sacred Heart Shrine. Senior Daze It was with mingled feelings that we re- turned for our last year at college. We were glad to be Seniors, and we were excited over the prospect of graduation, and yet . . . Mayor Edmund Pardee presents map of London to Sister Mary James, R.S.M. Mary A. Quinn. Prances Bridgeman. Thirteen

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First Joint Glee Club Concert with Providence College benefits D.P. Student Fund. First academic year closes with the blessing of the Sacred Heart Shrine by Rev. Gerald F. Dillon Fifteen