Sarnia Collegiate Institute and Technical School - Collegiate Yearbook (Sarnia, Ontario Canada)

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THE COLLEGIATE' 97 tain a tremendous success, I do not mean, that one should be a good loser -in the thought that one should not mind losing, I don't be- lieve that any o-f you or any other nor-mal person likes to l-ose-at least I have never met one y-et who did- but to be a good loser if defeated, by taking sto-ck of yourself, to know w'hy you met -defeat, so that the next time tlhe same opposition arises, you can overcome it. And -as you go further into the world o'f -business, it will be dlriven into your very being that the great- est joy in the world is a work well done. I can remember in my own life, when work did not appeal to me 'any more than it did to any nor- mal -boyg today there is n-othing I drea-d more, than to be idle. I hope that each of you wi-ll eventually land into a 'business or profession which you grow to love-if you do, and work hard in it, you will become s-o engrossed in it, that you will forget your troubles every day that you are busily engaged and -at tlhe end of the day, you may be physic- ally tired, 'but you will be mentally refreshed with the thought that you have accomplished something by hard work, and hard work is the measure of success for each of you, not only for yourself individualy, but for your community, your prov- inc-e and your country. Finally, let me sa-y that you should not be too provincial, cynical or jealous in your thoughts of your neighbors and friends. If you have not already don-e so, you will event'- ually rea-lize t-ha-t nearly everyone else is too busy trying to make a living himself or herself to interfere witlh you providing you are honest and dec-ent-and fthat we must as- sume for you always. Frequently you will hear ridiculous claims made not only abou-t your neighb-ors .and friends but about your communities and y-our country, some -of these claims -ar-e made by self-seeking politicians-so-me by troulble makers and other Bolshevistsg allways bear in mind that iwhoever makes such rash statements, must 'have some peculiar selfish reason for so doing and wherever you are, do a-ll within your power to stifle such statements as they lead to trouble. Before long, some association of the alumni -of the S.C.I. should be formed. Such an association has been proven to -be of 'great :bene'fit both to the students, the -alumni, and the institution, in other schools and I trusit that something of such nat- ure will soon be a part of the S.C.I. I am sure it wouldbe of vast bene- fit. This is a work, which the o'lder students of your s1cl'1ool, together with the younger graduates, can readily accomp'-l-ish by some co-oper- altive work, I believe, and it would be mutuallly b-eneficial undoulbtedly. . In closing, let mle express my sin- cere appreciation of the privilege o-f saying these few words to you-I wish you' all the best of success not only for yourselves but for our dear old school-Jkeep a stiff upper lip and a good square jaw to the world, regardless of what happens, 'and the honor and success of our s-chool and yourselves will con-tinue to increase with the passing years. Sincerely yours, Laurie O. Telffer L.L.B. ,2O Michigan. i No rintroduction is necessary to Norman Paterson, graduate of ,2Q, who kindly consented to write -a letter on behalf of the recent graduates. S.P.S., Toronto, Marc'h 17, 1930. ' confess, -have been f-orced into the Dear Collegiate: The privilege of writing for the Collegiate again -brings back a background of my mind durin-g t-he past year. It is surprising, and un- fortunately so, how one loses track host of me-mories, which, If must A of events after a year of absence. 1, , iaihllwlf lm..

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96 THE COLLEGIATE any event keep an untarnished rec- ord-the thought which I desire most to convey to you is that you should al-ways keep your character as unsullied as undoubtedly it -is at the present time. Keep up your in- terest in sports and I play them whenever possible, in nine years at the Bar, six years and a half of which has been spent in the prose- cution olf' criminal offenders, I am very positive that the percentage of althletes or at leastiof persons en- gaged in some form of athletics, who become criminals, is practically negligible, Sports are one of the greatest deterrents of crime. Al- ways go straight in whatever bus- iness or profession you enter. Maj- or crimes have so increased -in the past deca-de, not on-ly in the United States but also in Canada, Qwhere fortunately the increase has been much lessj that it behooves each of us who believes in the present form of civilization and those' principles for which our Anglo-Saxon fore- fathers lived and died, to see to it th-at respect for law from everyone in our c-ountry be upheld, without obedience to law, our governments must perish, which is un.thinka'ble, hence, as you go forth from the S.C. I., always bear in mind that obed- ience to law is an absolute essential to y-our own well-being and safety as well as to the well-being and safety of your country. Your conduct will reflect the standar-d of your schoolan-d if you go on to any of the universities, and I hope that you will, your conduct there, and your conduct when you graduate therefrom, will reflect the standard o-f your school, each of you thereby is constantly writing your own letter of recommendation, while environment and heredity un- dowbteldly contribute in many ways ho your 'fut-ure, the bulk of the .fut- ure depends upon yourself, there are some things you cannot buy, such as honesty, loyalty, unselfish- ness, friends, love and many other quaLities,'an.d these are the things which develop your character, to each of you, is given 'the privilege of choosing y-our own life and what you will make o-f it and in whatever line of endeavor you eventually land, and wherever you eventually locate, your force in the community will be for go-od or for ewil, just so far as you desire it t-o be and dependent largely upon your own will and con- duct. I fear you may think I am Ser- monizin.g -which is farthest Ifrom my thoughts, as one grows older, he sees so many places in life, where he might have done differently, that it behooves us all to st-op on-ce in -a whiile and check up on where we are going. You do not realize 'how for- tunate you are in having had the op- portunity to attend a first class in- stituti-on such as the S.C.I. -while you are attending it, tenor twenty years from now, you will realize it. If a glimpse of what each of you will be doing fifteen years from now could be given you, I wonder if you would 'be satisfied, to make sure t'hat you will be, and that y-ou will not have any regrets, always work as hard as you can, -because the sum total of success whether in worldly go-o-ds or in other merits, is depend- ent upon work and obedience not only to law but to your religious faith. When I graduated 'from the University of Michigan, Dr. Burton, a tremendous man of energy who died while yet a young ma-n, and who before his death became pres- ident of said university, said among otiher things: Attainment is the death of ambition , no truer words were ever spoken so I trust that we will all live an-d strive t-o t'he end that we may yet accomplish something worth while, an-d do not let defeat whip you, one of the best things which can happen to anyone is to get a first class beating now and again whether it is in a sport or one's business and the reaction s'h-ould .be healthy, if -one is the opt- imist he shou-ld be becau.se you can- not always be a winner and yet, in defeat, a football team or an indi- vidual can be tremendous and ob- il:

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98 TI-IE COLLEGIATE New friends, new activities, and the new sensation of self-responsibility certainly have their effect. But in spite of these, tfhere are times wh-en one deflights to hearken back an-d re- call the years spent in the old school. It really takes a year of absence' to bring home the factthat the Sarnia Collegiate isn't such a bad old place after all . ' After all, school life is just what you make it yourself. You don't have to be a mlemlber of the rugby team or one of th'e magazine staff to really play a part in the activities of the school. .Many fail to realize that an enthusiastic supporter is helping the cause as well as the particioator. But it se-eims that only a smalfl percentage are willing to be the supporters. The rest migrate into a clique whose purpose seems to be to rap rather than boost . These indiividuals do- not enjoy high school lrife. Their everlasting wail throughout the five years is: We never get a c'han-ce. Right now,'le't me say that every student starts in the first year with equal standing. It is the one wrho is willing to shoul- der some responslibili-ty and take a little interest in school activities, that forges ahead. I I suppose if I were to repeat any of the time-worn paternal comments that have been repeated in this col- umn year after' year, my 'words would immediately give rise to that slang expression - The same old line. Nevertheless, I w-ish I had seriously considered so-me of the fatherly advice given by graduates in previous years. ' The words of that same old line t consisted of Learn .to work for yourself. It takes only a week of university to bring home the truth of that state- ment. Consequen'tly,' if I may be permitted -to repeat that statement, and by chance one pe-rson may take it to heart, this letter has been a successg otherwise, the only place worthy of it is tfhe waslte basket. One year at college has been in- deed a wonderful experience.. Un- fortunat1ely,'I have failed to see any in-dication of college life -a-s depicted by George Lewis in the Colleg- ians . I must say I was disappoint- ed fsarcasmj. My only advice to anyone considering coming to Tor- onto, is that the best faculty on the camrpus is the one and -only S.P.S. Many people will oppose this state- ment, burt they are, prob-ably, only Arts students wfho don't. know any better. p With beslt wishes for t'he succe-ss of the Collegiate , Yours very truly, Norman I. Paterson. VVith the commencement of each new school year some two hundred freshies enter into the Sarnia C-ollegiate to fill the seats that Jim Jones and Sam Smith used to- sit in. There are, of course, new teachers on the staff each year to fill in the vacancies. This year is no exception. To The Teachers! I Those of us who are back for our second year or more often think with fonld remembrances of the five members of last year's staff who have severewd the-ir connections with our school: They did so, however, as they thought, for their own goo-d. So to those teachers we'll say- . Here's health and weal-th and hap-pinessf?