Wallaceburg District Secondary School - Actiana Yearbook (Wallaceburg, Ontario Canada)

Page 28 text:

VALEDICTORIANS ADDRESS .... Mr. Chairman, members of the Staff, ladies and gentlemen, and fellow students I have been given the honour of saying the grand farewell, on behalf of the 1954 graduating class. It is not an easy task to express the feeling of all of the graduates, for we each have different thoughts and memories as we gather together in our familiar auditorium for the last time. It has been five years since we, as bewildered grade nine students, made our way to High School. That day as now, we were the centre of attraction. Grade ten students stared at us as if to say. We could tell you a few things, but we'll let you find out for yourselves. Sophisticated grade thirteen students audibly made remarks to the effect of, They get younger every year, don't they? Members of the staff exchanged knowing glances, as they prepared to mould these blundering innocents into High School students. We came as happy, careless children, we leave still full of the joy and zest of living, but no longer careless. Life has taken on new meaning for us: we have learned that each must make his own contribution in life, and that no one else can make it for him. Being able to attend High School is a golden opportunity. This is the period when you store up, not wealth, but an important means of gaining wealth. A period when you make yourself a more respected person because your more efficient usefulness in whatever calling you may follow. A period for making friendships that will not easily be forgotten. The Wallaceburg District High School has been more than just a school to us, it has been our second home. She has educated us, not only in the fine arts but in character, personality and the social field. For some of us it has tak- en a lot of pounding, chipping and patching to produce the results. Do not misinterpret this statement. We graduates are not setting ourselves up on a pedestal, as examples of perfectly rounded individuals, but I am convinced that if there is any diamond quality in us, it shines more now than when we first started. We owe a great deal to all our teachers. We can only now realize what task they set themselves when they undertook to educate us in 1948. The credit for the change that has taken place if, indeed, there has been any change, we owe it to them. We extend to them this evening our most sincere appreciation for all they have meant to us. I would also like to express our appreciation to Mr. Weir, for whom we all have the deepest respect, not only as principal, but as a true friend. We would also like to say a big thank you to all our Moms and Dads, who made it possible for us to attend High School and encouraged us when the going was rough. Tonight, there are mingled feelings surging within us. We are on the threshold of new, varied experiences. As graduates, we are stepping from the small, happy family composing the student body to that of the larger group forming the alumni. Some of us will proceed to schools of higher learning, others will take up immediate positions in the business world, still others will form that essential part of society, namely, farmers. In whatever field, lo- cality, or position we may be engaged, we have responsibilities. We owe a service to our fellow men, to our country, to our queen and to our God. The manner of conduct portrayed in the fulfillment of our duties will reflect upon our school. May we, by God's help, so live that we can bring glory and honour to the school we love, that she may be proud to include the 1954 graduating class among her highly esteemed children. -26-

Page 27 text:

BIG MGNSTER .... The chairs were scattered round aboutg The table was littered with books And there in the corner the monster stood With glarey and blinding looks. With a blaring voice and glaring face The monster ruled supreme And all around the slaves sat bound, Dazed, as in a dream. Morning, noon and night it blared, It never seemed to stop, Until one night at eight-fifteen Something inside went pop . All is calm, the monster is gone, The chairs are back in place, And there in the corner where the monster stood, There is an empty space. But alas my friends, the monster is back, The chairs, wide-scattered they beg And there in the corner the monster stands, A twenty-one inch T.V. NORTHLAND NIGHT . . . Into the night comes a high-pitched cry: As the snowy owl goes floating byg Rabbits and rodents in their dens do quiver, Fear stabbing their hearts and making them shiver. A fox on the hilltop barks at the moon, While from the lake comes the call of the loon. A buck's trail is outlined against the snow, Telling who cared where he did go. A victory cry from the forest within, Calls to a feast the wide-spread wolf king Many the buck that heard that dare And all but trembled in his lair. Then comes the lull before the dawn, Broken by only the half-grown fawn That stirs up its bed where it did lay And rises, to greet the breaking day. -25- David Mann - 10B Albert Schmidt - 10D

Page 29 text:

So, we take our leave of the Wallaceburg District High School as many others have done and many more will. We shall always carry with us the pleas- ant memories of our sojourn here and all the dear associations connected with it. We leave to face a world which may not be as friendly as we have found this place to be, but with the weapons we have been given here, we fearlessly fling our challenge to that world, take up our banner of idealism, and march on to our destiny. BEVERLY CAMPBELL GRADE 13 GRADUATES 1954 .... Front Row - Ann McRae. Susan Kolpuck. Norma Browning. Sondra Martin. Camilla Cleary, Beverly Camp- bell. Batty Neil. Second How - Peter Crawford. Douglas Huctwith. Myles McCarran. William Scott. Iohn Brunton. Fred Serguvitch. Brooksbank: There's a fly in my coffee. Kubik: Well, don't get excited, it won't drink much. Bill Butterman: What is the hardest thing about skating? Perry Fox: The ice. Mr. Schell: See if I have a flat tire, will you? Barrie Davis: It's flat on the bottom but the rest seems to be alright. Miss Zavitz: John, why are you late again? Have you no alarm clock at your house? John Burnett: Yes, but it always goes off when I'm asleep. Customer: I'd like to try on that suit in the window. Gary Cooper: I'm afraid you can't, sir. You'll have to use the dressing room. -27-