Wachusett Regional High School - Wachusett Yearbook (Holden, MA)

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Superintendent’s Office Message to the Class of 1985: This message is being written following several days spent with Amish friends in Ohio, including a morning’s visit in an Amish one-room school and three days observing a family (three generations worth) prepare for a wedding. The most impressive aspect of the Amish for me was the strong sense of community, the standards set by it, the support given by it, especially in times of need, and the obligation which each family accepts for training each young person in a vocational area and setting him or her up in an occupation or household. What message is there in all of this for us? I think that there is a message which runs counter to the commonly heard “I want to make it on my own.” Possibly this ‘‘making it on one’s own” is a reaction to overprotective or manipulative parents. Sometimes it is necessary, when there is no support coming from family or friends. But how silly it is to confuse the desire to achieve self-sufficiency with knowing it all, to refuse advice and assistance when offered by someone who knows our chosen occupation better than we. The message is: accept advice and assistance with your career and life, and even ask for it. Thousands of successful careers have been moved forward by the person’s having a mentor, a more experienced person in the field, who takes an interest in a hard-working junior, and acts not only as teacher, but as agent to further the junior’s advancement. Yes it is admirable to go it alone, but i t is not necessary in many cases. May I suggest that you consider abandoning some of those macho instincts and looking around for a person of quality and accomplishment so you don’t have to “reinvent the wheel.” Whatever your route, our best wishes follow you along your life’s path. Dr. Edward P. Yaglou Superintendent PETER FARRELLY ASS T SUPERINTENDENT WILLIAM C. JORDEN BUSINESS MANAGER FORREST R. GILMORE, JR. DIR. OF SPECIAL ED.