St Stephens Episcopal School - Deacon Yearbook (Austin, TX)

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Feelings run the full gamut at St. Stephen's, but are intensified to the ut- most. Living in a dormitory, attending classes, and even eating meals with the same people tend to make you both sensitive and cold to the feelings of people around you. You tend to know how your roommate feels without his stating a single word and also you try to shield your feelings as much as possible so that others are not analyzing your thoughts and actions. Sadness, unhappiness, and loneliness are often felt at St. Stephen’s. A lack of privacy just to sit and think out your problems—that unattained goal in athletics or the fact that you may be failing and can't catch up, all show up on the faces of the students and faculty alike. The feeling that none of your teachers or none of your students like you, or worse the feeling that your colleagues don’t care for you can make life miserable when you are in constant contact with them. The couples of St. Stephen's are about the closest interaction of feeling present. The presence of someone with whom you can share a moment of laugh- ter and those moments of pain make a lasting relationship among many stu- dents. It’s very encouraging on a rainy, gloomy day to see a smiling couple who are just happy being together. In a year of a record number of students leaving and one of many tragedies for members of the student body, happiness was a rare gem. Whenever this gem was found, it gleamed with a very special brightness. A winning football game, a warm smile, a play, just a balloon, seemed to radiate a warmth that spread happiness over all the gloom. Thursday evening, April 10th, the happiness erupted into the start of St. Stephen’s first love in.” Friday morning all normal manner of school life ceased as love took over and students and faculty for the first time showed their feelings freely and without any attempts at keeping up their image. The festivities ebbed after a fully clothed swim by most of the student body and some of the faculty as well as a lunch on the grass outside of the dining hall. One thing that is very important about this student movement is that nothing was torn down, ridiculed, or protested against—everyone was just happy. While the impracticality of holding hands and hugging your friends and singing and picking flowers was never in question, this spirit of happiness con- tinued through the rest of the year. It was a hope of those leaving St. Stephen’s in the Spring, whether permanently or just for the summer, that this feeling of happiness will always remain at St. Stephen's. We dedicate this book about St. Stephen’s and ourselves to this hope of happiness.