Topsfield High School - Shenewemedy Yearbook (Topsfield, MA)

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To the Cla s of 1958 As I wrzte th1s, two man made satelhtes are c1rcl1ng the earth These sputmcks were made and placed 1n the1r orb1ts by the Russ1ans Th1s 15 of vxtal concern to every freedom lov1ng person who hves outs1de of the commun1st sphere of mfluence for the results of thxs race for space supremacy may well dec1de the fate of democracy as a way of hfe and form of government 1n the twentleth century These feats of sc1ence on the part of the Commun1sts are even more remarkable when we consxder the tremendous sc1ent1f1c and technolog1cal progress these people have made 1n the few short years follow1ng World War II It 15 well Wlthln the memory of many people when It was necessary for that natmon to 1mport from the free world engmeers to perform such tasks as bulldxng dams and roads The fact that the Russlans have achleved thxs progress mn such a short t1me 15 a trlbute wh1ch we must however grudgxngly pay to the1r system of educatmn In our nat1on we now have a flurry of act1v1ty We have talk and plans for a crash program 1n sc1ence and educatlon It 15 obv1ous that 1f we are to rega1n and maxntaln our supremacy 1n the age of space we must have a reevaluat1on of our ob1ect1ves goals and approaches Unfortunately many of these thmgs w1ll be t1me consumlng and at a perxod durlng wh1ch t1me IS of the essence What we need now are 1mmed1ate solut1ons wh1ch w1llbr1ng about very tang 1ble results Our present educat1ona1 system 1S based on our democrat1c way of lrfe and IS one of the fmest 1n the world However any system must adapt 1tself to chang1ng emphasrs It would appear that 1f we are to succeed students must be w1ll1ng to develop to a greater degree the1r 1ntellectual cur1os1ty and be w1ll1ng to strxve for h1gher academlc goals We must have greater recogn1t1on for those who seek addmtxonal work and demonstrate an honest desxre to help creat1vely mn our progress Th1s demands a degree of maturlty and a well developed sense of respons1b1l1ty on the part of all students today Leave Topsf1eld Hlgh School wxth hablts d1rected toward cons1stent appllcatlon to and ach1eve ment of the SP6C1f1C problems at hand but also always be aware of the need of contlnmng growth and educatlonal progress Rodney C Dres ser Pr1nc1pal 4 'x H . 5 I I I 1 - . 1 1 - . , . I

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.m To the Class of 1958 In a recent speech before a management group of 1ndustr1al1sts, the Pres1dent of the Republxc Steel Corporatxon empha s1zed some po1nts that seemmgly had nothxng to do w1th the productmon of steel He argued that the greatest asset th1s nat1on has 1S not m the amount of natural wealth that 1S ava1lable but that our greatest resource IS our people the men and women whose labo h s bu1lt Amerlca he boys and g1rls who hold the future of Amerxca 1n the1r hands Frankly we who have been assoc1ated w1th educat1on have suspected th1s fact for some txme It would be 1mposs1ble to serve as a teacher for many years gu1d1ng youth at any level of the1r growth helplng to prepare them as well rounded 1nd1v1duals for the l1fe to follow and to assurne the many respons1b1l1t1es of c1t1zensh1p wxthout recogn1z1ng the1r 1mportance to the natmon per haps to 1ts very enustence of txme Even so w1th1n our own era each set of graduates from our schools has gone forth xnto a world fraught w1th problems whether they were the result of a depresslon, a war or an un certaln peace and they have somehow measured up to the obstacles encountered The members of our present graduatmg class whether entermg schools of hrgher learmng or term1nat1ng the1r formal educat1on at th1s stage of the1r development certalnly face as many problems as any prevxous class but th1s 15 to be compensated by the number of opportun1t1es that are also avaxlable It remams to be seen whether th1s and other graduatmg classes throughout the land prohted by the trammg recexved from the schools and other 1nst1tut1ons of the commun1ty and whether they are ready for the d1ff1cult1es to be faced and the opportun1t1es to be grasped In a sense, all graduates are on trzal as l1v1ng ev1dence of our behefs and our way of hfe Th1s makes them very lmportant mdeed to all of us because rt means that more than ever be fore, our form of government, our system of educat1on our very ph1losophy of l1v1ng are on tr1al as well It can only be sa1d that workxng closely w1th youth of Amerlca even w1th so small a segment as Just those xn Topsf1eld tends to encourage bellef 1n them and for what they stand Maur1ce F Smlth Superlntendent of Schools 3 . I . Q -- r a . . 9 t . . . . i The youth of every generation has been critized by its elders probably since the beginning

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