Vermilion School of Agriculture - Yearbook (Vermilion, Alberta Canada)

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F orewo rd “A ilg am the silent wheels of time their annual round have driven, and another group of graduates turn their backs on the halls of learning and their faces to the world. For most of them graduation day marks a bend in the road, from the responsi¬ bilities of youth to those of manhood and womanhood. The future is a closed book. Its pages are unsoiled and unused. May I express the hope that time will write therein with a kindly disposition. The past is known, and its days have been filled with pleasant companionships and valuable oppor¬ tunities. It is but an indication of those things which, I trust, await the graduate in future years. In every age agriculture presents new problems. The economic aspect is today assuming a degree of importance hither¬ to unknown. During the past few decades the people of this Province have devoted their energies to the task of bringing new areas under cultivation and increasing agricultural production. In future, methods must be adopted whereby production costs will be reduced to a minimum and the quality of our products made equal and, if possible, superior to those of any of our com¬ petitors. The training which you have received has been calculated to prepare you for this task. Those responsible for providing the educational facilities which you have been privileged to enjoy cherish the hope that you will not only be more expert farmers and homemakers, but that you will preserve a keen appreciation of the finer things of life and be examples in your communities of all that may be implied by the term “good citizen. In this way the majority will find opportunity for making the most valuable contribution to their day and generation. J. F. ANDREW, Assistant Deputy Minister of Agriculture. [ Page two ]

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Dedication This Yearbook is respectfully dedicated to the cherished memory of — Verna Siberia ftacUleton who passed away at the early age of twenty-three years in August, 1930. Verna ivas the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Alberta E. Shackleton of Fort Saskatchewan, and entered the Vermilion School of Agriculture in the fall of 1927, to better prepare herself for the study of nursing which she proposed later to under¬ take at the University Hospital. Former classmates and members of the School Staff came to know Verna Shackleton as a loving friend and a loyal comrade during her two years at the School arid news of her death was received with profound sorrow. Through the years her memory will stand out as a precious thing in the lives of her fryends—ours is the privilege to offer to this memory a modest but sincere dedication. [ Page one ]

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Cbttortal J N looking over the year books of previous years we find such quotations as “The best is yet to come, In future, chapters will be written which will tell of greater accomplishments.’’ True, the best may still be “yet to come,’’ but it will be an exceptional term which will excel the one we are just completing. In the Yearbcok we publish at least a few of the “greater things ’ that have been prophesied. Our Yearbook has been changed in some respects in the hope of making it more entertaining and more interesting without altering its primary objective as a souvenir of a happy and useful winter among friends and class¬ mates. It is the hope of those responsible for this book that prospective students of the Institution may come in contact with the magazine and that they may receive enthusiasm and inspiration that will cause them to swell the ranks of future V.S.A. classes. We feel safe in saying that in no other institution can they obtain a better groundwork in Agriculture and House¬ hold Science than is offered in the curriculum of this school. The term began last fall under somewhat unusual conditions, winter having arrived long before it might ordinarily be considered due; threshing of a heavy crop was far from being completed and the general lateness of the fall made it necessary to postpone the opening of the School for two weeks. Even with this concession of time many of our students were unable to report promptly for classes, and, unfortunately the deflation in grain prices was responsible for a very heavy cut in actual registration as compared with the large number of applications that had been received from young people intending to spend the winter at the School. The financial and agricultural stress through which we are now passing makes us realize that if we are to succeed as agriculturists we must be efficient in our methods of conducting business. While realizing that efficiency cannot prevent hail stoims, frosts, droughts or other adverse conditions of nature it cannot but be admitted that if efficiency in methods is not of a high order, mismanagement may easily be added to those conditions over which we have no control and may contribute to failure in maintaining agriculture in the position she deserves. The theoretical and practical courses of such an institution form a foundat on on which we may build for the future. The social side of school life, by no means an unimportant phase of the education, especially of young people who come from the farms, is certain to make an impression on our future; the opportunity of spending one or more winters with a group of fellow students, in residence under dormitory conditions, tends to broaden the mind and to make for tolerance of the views and desires of others. This influence is carried back to our communities and broadcast among the people in general. Our students may be likened to storage batteries, sent away to be charged; when the job is completed they return to their source to discharge their current to those who wish to receive it. We trust that the friendships formed in the atmosphere of the Vermilion School of Agriculture may have a lasting effect, as the boys weld the links that form the chain in the forge shop, so are links of friendship formed and merged into one great chain, a chain that will stand the test of time. A T o talk of race or caste or weed The toughest shell; ’Twould he a sin No fault of hair or shade of skin. To lose a comrade, or resign Shall bar me of my choice, indeed My company for cause so thin. The sweetest not may lie within All good fellows are friends of mine. As we leave these halls for other fields, many of us never to return, let us take with us our school motto, “Ever to Excel.” Percy Howe, 1931 [ Page three ]