Sheffield High School - Sentinel Pines Yearbook (Sheffield, MA)

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The Best Prophet of the Future is the Past Tonight, our thoughts are focused on the future. This is our commencement. We are about to graduate from the shelter of school, where we have spent twelve years, to go out into the world that our education has prepared us to face. In spite of this prep- aration, many of us are unsure of what we are going to do and wonder what mark we will make for ourselves. However, our thoughts should not be on the future alone for we ought to look back and consider the past. This past has contributed to our characters and personal- ities. What we are, we have been made by the influence of parents, teachers and many other factors in our environment. What we have been is an indication of what we are to be. If we were conscientious and thorough as students, we will be likely to carry these traits into adult life. Not only personal pasts prophesy personal futures, but the past in general, can give us the secret of what the future may hold. History can make us aware of the re- curring cycle of war and peace. It is impossible not to note the similarity in different periods of history. The opinion is often stated that our own nation is now in the age which corresponds to that of Augustus, when the Roman Empire was at its height of world leadership. The study of history may find the answers to many questions. These answers may keep us from the inward crumbling and decay which hastened the fall of Rome. Many of today ' s political institutions and social customs had their roots as far back as ancient Greece and the study of history is necessary for a basic understanding and an appreciation of these things. As our class motto, we have chosen one quite appropriate to this line of thought linking the past and the future. It is Today we follow, tomorrow we lead. Graduation makes the today of which we speak become the past. In this past, we followed the courses planned for us by others. We were taught principles and facts for the express purpose of leading society when our turn should come. We studied history to gain the key to tomorrow. We were taught to gain knowledge of the past so we would know how to handle the future. Now, tomorrow is approaching and we have our task before us. We must use the knowledge we have gathered during our twelve years in school to plan our own course and set an example for others. We are tomorrow ' s citizens and it is up to us to be the leaders that are needed, not only in government, but in all spheres of everyday living. In closing, I would like to stress again the importance of considering the past, its relation to the future and necessity of remembering, when we are me leaders, what we have learned from the days when we were followers. Alice Straleau

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Graduation Exercises Processional (Audience Standing) Invocation - Rev. Ralph Rawse Ave Maria - Gounod - Glee Club Honor Speech Laura Malnati Gold and Silver - Lehar - Orchestra Honor Speech - - Alice Straleau Address - Your Part in Making a Peaceful World Thomas H. D. Mahoney Professor of History Mass. Institute of Technology May The Good Lord Bless and Keep You Senior Class Presentation of P.T.A. Scholarship President of P.T.A. Presentation of Scholastic Awards C. A. Friis, Principal Presentation of Diplomas John Somes Superintendent of Schools Our Father - A. Malotte -- -- Glee Club Benediction Rev. Ralph Rawse Postlude (Audience remain seated)

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Our Four Great Faiths Parent, Faculty, Classmates, and Friends: Tonight, we, the Class of 1954, are graduating from Sheffield High School and entering an adult world, perforce to each seek our own way without the former com- plete dependence upon our teachers and parents. The time has come when we must lead, not follow. To be able to do this we must turn to our Four Great Faiths: Faith in God, Faith in Ourselves, Faith in Our Fellow Man, Faith in Freedom. Down through the ages, Faith in God has been a powerful force in the lives of men and a source of strength in time of trouble. The great and lasting movements of civili- zation have been dedicated to, and founded upon, Faith in a Supreme Power. This Faith is woven into the foundation of our nation. It has given us strength when we fal- tered, courage when we were afraid, united us when we were divided. By looking to God, by dedicating ourselves to His teachings, we can be filled with renewed and strengthened Faith. The history of our country is that of people who had Faith in Themselves, but in recent years we have lost some of this Faith. We have started looking to the govern- ment for the solution of not only community problems, but personal ones as well. As we persist in the dependency upon the government, Faith in Ourselves is gradually weakened, and eventually destroyed. Faith in Our Fellow Man is the basic Faith for the foundation of brotherhood. We should have brotherly love not only for our own families, but for people of every race, nationality, and country. In this way, perhaps there could be perpetual peace among different nations, and the constant threat of horrid wars, which have crippled so many countries for centuries, would be banished forever. In working to revive the spirit of brotherhood upon which the foundation of our great nation rests, we must renew our Faith in each other and in the inalienable rights of each other, to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The last of our Four Great Faiths is Faith in Freedom. Ever since civilization be- gan, people have fought and died to promote it. That is why at this very time in our own country our young men and women are in the armed forces. . . so we may have Freedom which, a sacred trust, we must preserve and pass on to our children. It is their birthright. . . ours to hand on to them and they to their children. Between the America of yesterday and the America of tomorrow stands our gen- eration. To us has fallen the duty to preserve the Faith, the Honor, the Strength and the Glory that is America. To do this, we must have Faith in a God, who answers our prayers. . . Faith in Ourselves and our work. . . Faith in Our Fellow Man, his courage and honesty. . . Faith in Freedom, its strength and meaning. Now is the time to take our stand. Tomorrow may be too late. Laura Malnati