Tekonsha High School - Indian Yearbook (Tekonsha, MI)

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SALUTATORIAN PATTY MILLARD Faculty, Parents, Classmates, and Friends: I have the honor to speak for the Senior Class and welcome you to our graduation exercises. As Salutatorian of the class of 1966 I wish to reflect upon what we have learned in high school and what we may not have learned. If we have acquired a useful education during these past four years we should be able to think better and more clearly than when we started in high school. Few students, if any. really learn everything which could possibly be learned, but bits of information acquired and put to work may lead to many things. A feeling of intellectual power will surely come with the discovery of how to use information and make it produce results. Some of the greatest things which men and women have achieved have come as the result of step by step progress based on logic and application of facts. Other developments have come unexpectedly at times. A person may be working on a certain goal and yet in that day-to-day progress a new idea comes which changes everything. He may find other uses for known facts, adapting them to new problems. He may rearrange and combine existing ideas. The new development may be something of overwhelming significance and not comprehended fully by the person himself. Future happenings may have to determine this. Columbus did not intend to discover America. He was aiming at something entirely different. On the basis of what he knew he concluded that if he took a proper course in a sailing ship across the Atlantic Ocean he would eventually come to India. He spent years in planning his journey and in convincing others whose help he needed. Most people considered the trip to be a dangerous and uncertain venture which would most likely end with disaster for all who sailed with Columbus. Being so obsessed with the idea and ignoring any possibility of failure, he got the help he needed and went on the trip. With his information, which he felt sure was correct, he discovered America. A famous actor once invited a group of friends to a party at his home. He explained to them that one of the guests was a fellow with a funny idea and they should be warned so as not to laugh too much at this and offend the guest if he tried to interest them in it. The guest with the funny idea was Alexander Graham Bell. The idea was the telephone. There may be unknown possibilities in the use of every set of facts. There may be a definite point to which it will lead but the discoveries along the way may be of even greater importance. The human mind is forever peering into the great unknown in search of new ideas. Some special kind of mental power is required in order that a person be able to recognize a new idea and do something with it. Our high school work and activities have taught us to stop and think when confronted with a completely new idea. Some would scoff at something new, perhaps just because it is new. A lot of inertia must be overcome to make way for the acceptance of a new idea. Before an idea is ignored there should be at least a thoughtful moment of consideration about its possibilities. It might be worthwhile rather than ridiculous. The discovery of America by Columbus and the invention of the telephone by Bell illustrated principles of progress which are interesting and worthy of consideration. They represent different ways in which ideas are put to work. Both experiences inspire us to find the best use for the facts we know and to be receptive to new ideas and unexpected developments. They should also inspire in us the work habits and character traits that make achievement possible. Mental discipline is necessary to organize facts and ideas. Perseverance is necessary to carry ideas into productive activities. And hard work is a part of most worthwhile developments. The Senior Class of 1966 will soon be history. We shall no longer be subject to the rules and discipline of the school yet we shall forever feel its influence. We shall cherish the memory of the many pleasant associations of our years in high school, and be grateful to you, our parents, teachers and friends for making our high school education possible. 16

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CO-VALEDICTORY (continued) education is all that is needed for many jobs, such as welding, assembling, repairing appliances, assisting photographers, working as postal or office clerks, and many, many more. In fact, I remember reading that experts studying automation and manpower estimate that about one-half of the work force of the future will be at jobs where people can go directly from high school to on-the-job training. Opportunity is not only knocking to offer us jobs, but it is also offering to train us for the jobs. Gwyn: We think much about the future, our careers, and what kind of jobs are available. Certainly the work of the world is changing rapidly. You who graduated ten or twenty years ago could look ahead with great promise to jobs that just are not there anymore. Yet today there are many new different opportunities. For example, there seems to be a great demand for people to manufacture, operate, and service all the machines of automation. Many jobs which require hard physical labor are gone. Many interesting new opportunities have been created. It takes a lot of people to teach everything which has to be taught from childhood on through to teaching someone how to do his work. Thomas Edison said, I never did anything worth doing by accident, nor did any of my inventions come by accident; they came by patience, diligence, and work. It is doubtful that any of us will be Edisons or Einsteins; but those of us who faithfully work--whether it be at college, developing our minds to seek our chosen career, or at the machine in the factory, making something useful for everyday living, we need not be ashamed when we are asked, What did you do today? We should be able to proudly answer, I went to work. We have a little poem that we would like to recite for you called, Do it now! It goes like this; If you’ve got a job to do, DO IT NOW t If it's one you wish were through, DO IT NOW t If you're sure the job's your own, Do not hem and haw and groan—DO IT NOW! Don't put off a bit of work, DO IT NOW ! It doesn't pay to shirk, DO IT NOW! If you want to fill a place and be useful to the race. Just get up and take a brace—DO IT NOW! Don't linger by the way, DO IT NOW! You'll lose if you delay, DO IT NOW! If the other fellows wait, or postpone until it's late, You hit up a faster gait--DO IT NOW! Charlene: In high school we have learned that there is something else besides curiosity, discovery, wonder, and adventure--there is work to be done. We hope to make good use of the courage, imagination, and energy you have helped us to develop. We hope to be able to live up to the expectations of our parents and teachers. Our promise to you here tonight is that we will do this to the best of our ability. We of the Senior Class are grateful to you, our parents and Teachers, for your guidance, help, and understanding. Without your help we might not be graduating. We leave this hour of graduation with the wish that our paths may often meet as time goes on and that the spirit and unity which bind us together tonight will endure. IF-

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CLASS MOTTO MARILYN MACKY Parents and Friends: Our class has chosen for its motto Out of School Life, Into Life's School. This is more than just a motto--it is, in a sense, a statement of truth. At no other time in our lives will we he taking a step as important as the one we take tonight. We now have a basic knowledge that should enable us to make wise decisions as to what we do in the future, whether it be furthering our education by going on to college, acquiring a job, or marriage. We have heard it said, An idea in the head is worth two in the book. Everything begins with an idea. Books are excellent sources of information and guidance. But books are not every-thing--if a person does not have good common sense to go along with what he reads, he may not obtain the full benefit of the book. Experience cannot be gained through reading a book, but ideas of our own help us to gain it, and with experience comes greater wisdom. This brings me to an important point--in life's school we should build for character not fame. Webster tells us that character is possession of distinctive qualities while fame is glory. Many people become confused, they seem to think that if they have won fame for themselves they automatically have good character; this isn't necessarily so. Let us take a look at people who join every organization and club they can—this is not wrong, if they have joined because they honestly felt they could derive or contribute something worthwhile. The person who joins because he likes to see his name in print or because he feels he can derive some glory for himself is certainly not helping himself to grow into the kind of person he himself can admire. Success is a word often associated with graduation--and truly this is one of our main goals in life. But success does not come overnight nor does it come easily. One must have a goal in sight and the determination to attain it. I believe that most of us realize this and we are ready to use the difficulties we encounter as stepping stones to success. We all dream of great deeds and high positions, away from the pettiness and humdrum of ordinary life. Yet success is not occupying a lofty place or doing conspicuous work; it is being the best that is in you. Rattling around in too big a job is worse than filling a small one to overflowing. Dream, aspire by all means; but do not ruin the life you must lead by dreaming pipe dreams of the one you would like to lead. Make the most of what you have and are. Perhaps your trivial, immediate task is your one sure way of proving your mettle. Do the thing near at hand, and great things will come to your hand to be done. To emphasize what I have been saying and in closing, I would like to read a poem by Douglas Malloch, If you can't be a pine on the top of the hill, We can't all be captains, we've got to be a crew, Be a scrub in the valley--but be There's something for all of us here. The best little scrub by the side of the rill; There's big work to do, and there's lesser to do, Be a bush if you can't be a tree. And the task you must do is the near. If you can't be a bush be a bit of the grass. And some highway happier make; If you can't be a muskie then just be a bass-- But the liveliest bass in the lake! If you can't be a highway then just be a trail, If you can't be the sun be a star; It isn't by size that you win or you fail--Re the best of whatever you are! 17 Thank you.