Wellesley High School - Wellesleyan Yearbook (Wellesley, MA)

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DEDICATION In March, Wellesley High School lost one of its finest and most valuable staff members, Mr. James Lape, long connected with the English De¬ partment, and Assistant Principal of Wellesley High School since 1962. Those students who were privileged to have him as a dedicated and inspiring teacher of English remember him with deep affection. After assuming his duties as Assistant Principal, his relationship with the students was not as intimate as that of our teach¬ ers or our counselors, yet Mr. Lape, perhaps more than any other person, worked and fought for new programs, appropriations, and improve¬ ments to the school that would benefit all stu¬ dents. Mr. Lape’s prowess and accomplishments in the field of education were recognized on a na¬ tional level. He was made Local Chairman of the National Convention of Teachers of English and also received a John Hay Fellowship for study at the University of Chicago. At our own high school, Mr. Lape was the motivating force be¬ hind the American Studies Course; he introduced the speech program for sophomores; and he also promoted the incorporation of more electives in the school curriculum. Mr. Lape was a man of vision and intellect. He had a feeling for what a school should be, and yet he never restricted his ideas to the pres¬ ent. Because of his extraordinarily rich and diversified mind, he was able to foresee the coming trends in education and to see the gaps in the curriculum of our own school. During his eighteen years at Wellesley High School, he tried to fill those gaps, thereby making a Wellesley education more full and rewarding. Perhaps no finer compliment was paid to him than that by our Principal, Mr. Graves: “No one could possibly be an associate of Jim’s through the years without admiring his scholarship, ideals, and tenacity in getting a job done. “During his term as Assistant Principal he has persistently striven to give us all that ‘forward look’ in the field of curriculum that is so neces¬ sary in this day and age of revolutionary change in all areas of education. “I know I can speak for all of us when we congratulate him on the opportunity now pre¬ sented to him as he becomes the new Principal of Weston High School.” The Class of 1966 dedicates this Yearbook to you, Mr. Lape, as a token of its great appreci¬ ation and respect. Thank you for all that you have done for us, for those thousands of students that have come before us, and those thousands yet to come. 4

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High School is probably the time of greatest intellectual transition. We enter Wellesley High as relatively unsophisti¬ cated adolescents, and by the time we leave, most of us have set our course for a lifetime. 6