Victoria High School - Victorian Yearbook (Edmonton, Alberta Canada)

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GRADE PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE 1 964-65 Bruce Maclennan This year 1964 - 65, we celebrated the joint graduation exercises of the Victoria Composite and Victoria Vovational High Schools. Next year the two schools will be combined. Our Grad was thus a unique oc¬ casion, since it marked the end of an era - the end of the old Vic Comp., and the beginning of the new Victoria Composite High School. As a result of this amalgamation, those interests and goals of the entire campus have been brought together. During our past years at Vic , we have been fortunate in having received the guidance of Victoria’s fine staff. In addition to this we have made many friends who we shall never forget, and have gathered memories which will always remain with us. Some of us may feel that this is the end of the road, but truly it is the Commencement , the beginning of a new life. We realize that we are now on our own, ready to do our best in whatever we attempt. With greater understanding we can now quote Longfellow: The heights by great men reached and kept Were not attained by sudden flight But they, while their companions slept Were toiling upward in the night. - Longfellow

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Years may. wipe out many things But this they wipe out never - The memory of these happy days When we were all together.

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VALEDICTORY Graduation has arrived once more and once again those who have reached this point regard it as a culmination of a part of their lives. Because Graduation has been asso¬ ciated with thoughts of separation not only from friends but also separation from a protective atmosphere we Grad- uands often experience a little sadness on this occasion. But looking at graduation and the years spent at Vic from another point of view 7 we see that high school is a plateau on our way to the summit of the mountain of success. We are mountaineers striving to reach a goal . In order to reach the peak of success one must advance a step at a time and we the Graduands are just about to advance to another foothold and come one step closer to achieving this goal.. Before we ascend into the unknown let us reflect upon our high school years and see how Vic has prepared us to contend with the problems that we shall face as we climb the cliff of later-life. The first essentials of mountain¬ eering are courage and conditioning. i Our courage has been bred into us by our parents. They gave us the courage to leave home for the first time when we entered grade one and in our years at Vic they gave us the courage to extend our horizons and to make our decisions as to which route we would follow in yder to attain our desired destination. Our parents have helped us with love and affection; our teachers at Vic have helped us with knowledge and under¬ standing. Now that we are ready to leave this plateau of learning in life we can feel confident that the courage which enables us to advance higher has been reinforced and that we tue in exellent condition for the long climb ahead. Every mountaineering party needs a guide to ensure its safety and to aid in its progress. We have been fortunate here at Vic to have had competent guides who are willing to devote their time and talent in not only leading us part way toward our goal but in giving us valuable information which will help us in our later journey. A climber needs special equipment to ensure his safe and successful scaling of the mountain. One of the essentials is a map. By definition a map is a sketch or a plan and each Vic student by the time he is finished grade 12 has been assisted in developing such a plan of his ascent to the pinnacle of his life. Because Vic has been so interested in each of its students it has provided us with excellent counsellors. These people have helped us chart the most probable route which will ensure our success. Here we find our direction and means of ascent beginning to differ as we each start to follow our own route to the top. Another necessary part of a mountaineer ' s gear is a compass. Vic has acted as a compass to its graduands. It has shown us many different fields of endeavor both academic and social in which ' we might participate. The extra curricular activities offered by Vic have given us an exellent opportunity not only to learn new skills but also to learn how to communicate and cooperate more easily with others. Like the mountaineer who must be depended upon and who must also learn to depend upon others w e, through participating have learned to carry responsibility and be reliable. SHARON KOBIE, Vol»4 rt orion The most important part of a mountaineer ' s outfit is the rope for it binds all the climbers together and keeps them from straying or falling. What was the rope that has held us together for the past three years? I be¬ lieve that this rope was made of two materials. The first was a knowledge that each of us was striving for the same common goal the successful termination of high school which would see us ready to climb up to new adventures and broader horizons. The second was Vic itself. Feeling that we belong to such a fine school and knowing that each of us had an obligation to fulfill in order to maintain the enthusiasm of good school spirit caused us to work together as a good mountaineering team and to make this trek a truly worth-while exp eri¬ ence . The last part of the equipment is the boots. These enable the mountaineer to step forth confidently. Three years of learning at Vic have provided us with the basic essentials in preparation for our expedition into adult life. If we use these ideas that we have absorbed we will be able to leave the plateau on which Vic is situated and confidently set our sights on the highest point of our individual achievement. Now we may ask the question what are the motives of the mountaineer? Here we Graduands must dif¬ fer from the actual climbers who scale the peaks of the world. To them it is the climbing itself that is important the means rather than the end. To us our climbing pro¬ vides the exitement in our lives but the end result is the most important of all. If we reach the top we know our lives have been a success. Vic has tried to give us the in - centive to strive until we reach our ultimate destination. Vic has provided us with the conditioning the guides and the equipment. From now on it is up to us to utilize our every benefit and to make it work in our favor in order to help us reach our goal - the top of the mountain of success . However let us not think there is only one mountain only one road and only one goal for everyone. If each person achieves what he himself wants in life he is a success in his own eyes and that is the most important accomplish- ment of all. But the morals and laws by which he governs himself on the way to the top are passed on to him by those with whom he associates. In the past three or four years we have had a wonderful association with teachers as well as with fellow students. What we have learned from them will help us in establishing the code that we will follow as we scale our mountain. When finally we reach the summit may we look back and say Thank you Vic. Thank you for affording to us the wonderful oppor¬ tunities that we have had to become better suited for our journey to the top of the mountain our own individual mountain of happiness and success.