Shortridge High School - Annual Yearbook (Indianapolis, IN)

Page 15 text:

GRADUATION: AUGUST, 1943 attended Vesper Services at Tabernacle Presbyterian Church. with Dr. Roy Ewing Vale officiating. Their ceremonies were of the conventional type. opening with the Triumphal March, played by the Shortridge Orchestra. Reverend Ellis W. Hay, D.D., gave the invocation. On the stage, graduates received their diplomas from Virgil Stinebaugh, of the Board of School Commissioners. John Palmer then gave the response for graduates, after which the class gave its creed, Written by Floy Wilcox. The graduating' group sang the Alma Mater and the program was completed with the Recessional, Pon1p and Circumstancef' Because of these three exercises, and the circumstances behind them, these four pages are particularly noteworthy.

Page 14 text:

THREE GRADUATIONS IN 231 DAYS: JUNE, 1943 1 Wartime acceleration of school programs brought about interesting cir- cumstances at Shortridge during the past fiscal year, when three gradua- tions Within a period of 231 days were held, each greatly different from the other two. The Hrst graduation was that of last year's senior class in the Coliseum June 8, 1943. It was the usual formal graduation, with sen- iors attired in blue caps and gowns, Verdi's t'Triumphal March, and all other factors which make up formal graduation ceremonies. The second graduation, on July 30, was less formal than the June ceremony. The scene Was the Shortridge campus, in the afternoon, with the Shortridge Summer School in attendance. The members of this H1943 VZ class sat on chairs from the cafeteria. The graduates were main- ly those who, not having sufficient credits in June to graduate with the 1943 class, took courses in summer school to complete requirements for their diplomas, many of the boys Wishing to attend college before called for military service. The diplomas were awarded by Dr. J. Dan Hull. Patsy Sharick gave the class response. On January 25, two hundred and thirty-one days after the June gradua- tion, eighty-three seniors were graduated in the school's first January exercises, in the setting of Caleb Mills Hall. Two days before, they had

Page 16 text:

THREE GRADUATIONS: JANUARY, 1944 Qlrvvh OF THE JANUARY GRADUATES, 1944 WE ARE THE FIRST SHORTRIDGE GROUP IN MANY YEARS TO GRADUATE IN JANUARY-TO ENTER A NEW LIFE AND A NEW YEAR AT THE SAME TIME. AS WE ENTER OUR NEW LIFE AT SO CRITICAL A PERIOD, WE PLEDGE OURSELVES TO SERVE HONORABLY OUR COUNTRY WHOSE NEEDS SUPERSEDE ALL OTHERS IN WAR- TIME. TO APPLY OUR BEST ABILITIES TO POST-WAR PURSUITS. TO DO OUR UTMOST TO PRESERVE THE VIC- TORIOUS PEACE WE SHALL WIN AT SUCH COST. TO STRIVE TO BRING CREDIT TO OUR ALMA MATER THROUGHOUT THE YEARS, AS OTHERS HAVE DONE BEFORE US. -FLOY WILCOX