San Antonio Academy - Blue Bonnet Yearbook (San Antonio, TX)

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94949494 'PV7494 President Lieutenant Colonel W. T. Bondurant, Jr. PAGE 8

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9494 949494 The Chairman of the Board Speaks The emphasis today in all walks of life seems to be preparation for tomorrow. The unfortunate element that seems to be left out of this frantic urgency is yesterday. Everyone is so caught up in the race to meet the new demands for efficiency, in the race to reach the moon and stars, and in the race for the new gain anywhere, anyhow, anytime, that those elements that put us at the jumping off spot are often ignored before the leap is made, and too often we find ourselves completely unprepared for the landing. We somehow seem to think that we'll just never have to hit ground or reality. There is a philosophy still alive at the Academy that is a bit more practical. At the well-spring of knowledge there are first eternal truths that must be learned that have their tenets in man's relation to God and man's relation to his fellow man. Before you seek tomorrow, you must first examine yesterday. We want our students or rather our boys who are really men to reach the stars, but only by examination of the successes and failures of those who tried before can success be achieved in a better way and open more ways to those who would follow. Academy men have achieved a high degree of success because they were early tutored in what morality, integrity, patriotism, brotherhood, and love of God mean, and at the same time they have been taught to dare to do great things if they believed in something's greatness. It is holding to these things, not just the idle dreams of tomorrow, that has made their lives and their communities richer. They have been doers not dreamers. PAGE 7

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XXX X-be The President's Page Not very long ago I heard someone talking as though in authority about the steady downhill plunge of todayis youth. It was very amusing to me at the time because I knew better. But, the more I thought about it, the madder I got, and the more determined to sound off I became. You and I take for granted our children and donit get on our soap boxes enough, and by you and I, I mean parents and teachers. By children, I mean your flesh and blood and our students. Most of our youngsters know more about everything than we did, and they arenit ashamed of it. The typical feeling in school not too long ago was to be ashamed if you were smart. Todayls young man or young woman knows that you had better be smart or you've had it. Theyire independent, too. By the time in their lives when most of us were asking when we were going to be permitted to learn how to light the stove, they've built one and improved it. When we were squirting each other with seltzer bottles at this age, they learned that the CO1 cartridge that made the water fizz was capable of air displacement and hence made a good mock-up jet engine for model cars. At the same age that we were trying to memorize addition facts, they are learning that numbers are symbols and there are such things as algebraic number lines and equations. They are learning the history of our country, but they are learning also that it is being made every day with every moment. There is a renaissance going on now that challenges adults to meet the greatness of youth. Thcy're not plunging downward, they're racing upward. Come along with me, the best is yet to be. Know your son for all that I know him to be. PAGE 9