Vandergrift High School - Spectator Yearbook (Vandergrift, PA)

Page 12 text:

“Is this a time to be cloudy and sad, When our mother Nature laughs around; When even the deep blue heavens look glad, And gladness breathes from the blossoming ground?’’ ‘There are notes of joy from the hangbird and wren, And the gossip of swallows through all the sky; The ground-squirrel gayly chirps by his den, And the wilding bee hums merrily by.” —From Bryant’s “The Gladness of Nature.”

Page 14 text:

12 THE SPECTATOR GREETINGS REETINGS, readers; and thank you for the support you have rendered in your purchase of this copy. We have striven to make this edition of “The Spectator” superior to those published previously and we believe we have accomplished our end. Therefore, it will be a matter of great interest to you to examine the “Spectator” carefully. Whatever success our paper may meet this year is due to the splendid willingness and eagerness with which the students respond to the requirements of the work; and to the prompt support of the business houses that have so kindly used our paper as a medium of advertising. We heartily recommend these firms to you, our patrons, and hope that you will favor them, as well as us, by your patronage. We take this opportunity to thank you for whatever aid and support you have given toward the success of “The Spectator” in its past publications —G. H. H., ’21. OUR AIMS O I have any aims in life? If so, are they of the kind that will uplift me and make me the better for having them? This question should be ever present in the minds of students. After all, what is an aim ? Are we moving along, day by day, with no particular object or purpose in mind—simply drifting? Are we coming to school day after day just as a pastime or because someone says that we should? If this is the only motive we have, out time is wasted; more than that— it is lost. What we need and must have, if we wish to become a success, is a certain goal, toward which we are continually striving. Just remember that “good enough” never makes real progress and often degenerates into shiftlessness. “What should be the character of our aims?” you may ask. Look at the life of Abraham Lincoln. Do you think that if his aims had not been of the highest standard, he could have risen to be the great man he was—the most beloved man in the heart of the American people. Everyone should have the ambition to do well whatever he does. Don’t take as your motto, “better than someone else” but “perfection” thus holding yourself responsible for a higher standard than is expected of you. But of what use are aims if we simply keep them before us but mak'e no effort to live up to them? What we need is the determination to carry out or unfold our thoughts and plans. Unless we have this, our lives may be considered as failures. The most successful people are those who have but one object in view and then pursue it with untix-ing persistence. It has been said that pei-haps the most valuable i-esult of education is the ability to make youi-self do the thing you have to do when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not. In our daily lives when there is so much opportunity for helping our neighbor, thus enobling ourselves, let us have in mind always that “where there’s a will thei-e’s a way.” Then I am sure success will be awaiting us somewhere in the future. “Companionship with an ideal, Becomes the highest of delight: Makes dream and aspiration real And keeps life ever on the heights.” —EVELYN LOVE, ’21.