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

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A Message from the Principal XjLnother school year is nearing its close, a year that many will remember because of the depression that extended over the entire co untry. Rarely before, perhaps, have we seen conditions that demanded as great fortitude on the part of the people of Western Canada and yet, in spite of adverse economic conditions the attendance at the Vermilion School of Agri¬ culture has been maintained in a surprising manner. It might have been expected, with local conditions as they are, that the number enrolling would be far short of last year’s record when we had the gratifying number of 177 students. An enrollment of 120 girls and boys for the past year is certainly creditable and is a wonderful tribute to the Mothers and Fathers who, under economic stress, in many cases, have worked a little harder and sacrificed a little more, in older that their boys and girls might enjoy the advantages that were little known in earlier days. To these parents our students owe a great debt of gratitude. In appreciation of such thoughtful efforts on the part of parents we feel that all V.S.A. students will live a con¬ tinuous “thank you’’ when they return to their own communities. They may well be a little more thoughtful, a little more earnest and a little more willing to assume responsibility, a little more anxious for the finer things of life and a little more determined that Father and Mother shall come first—in fact a little more the kind of young man and young woman the Principal expects them to be. W. J. ELLIOTT.

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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 ]

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