West Side High School - Legenda Yearbook (Saginaw, MI)

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To the Board of Trustees of the Union School District of the City of Saginaw: Gentlemen —I desire to give present effect to a testa¬ mentary provision made some time since for the erection of certain scholarships in connection with the high school of this district. It was and is my purpose to provide for four scholarships, one to he conferred at the end of each school year upon the graduate of the high school who ranks highest in scholarship in the studies pursued during the year when graduated, provided the graduate shall have attended the high school two years, and shall notify the trustees of a desire to pursue a course of study in the University of Michigan. The rank or standing of the graduates is to be fixed by a vote of the majority of the Board of Trustees, and the scholarships conferred in a like manner. Such scholarships shall entitle the holders to receive the sum of two hundred and fifty dol¬ lars each year for the term of four years from the date when conferred, payment thereof being made one-half at the begin¬ ning and one-half at the middle of the college year. But, to be entitled to these payments the student must enter the Uni¬ versity of Michigan and continue to pursue there a course of studies equivalent in educational value in tin judgment of the Faculty to what is termed a “regular” course. Should the graduate upon whom the scholarship is conferred either fail to promptly enter the University, or having entered, leave it, or not pursue the prescribed course of study, then the pay¬ ments of all moneys on account of the scholarship to the holder of the scholarship shall cease. If not more than two years have expired since the scholarship was conferred, then for the remainder of the term of four years the board of trustees shall pay at the rate of two hundred and fifty dol¬ lars each year to the graduate who ranked next to the one on whom the scholarship was conferred, but upon the same terms and conditions as to payment as is provided in the case of the holder of the scholarship, as awarded. A temporary break or interruption in college work is not to deprive a student of the right to the scholarship fund, and the board of trustees are expected to act leniently and with due consideration in such cases. It is intended that these scholarships shall be open alike to young men and young women, and that the course of study to be pursued in the University may be either literary, professional or technical. Reserving the right to alter these conditions as to details, 1 hereby bind myself to pay to the Union School District of the City of Saginaw, the sum herein provided to be paid on ac¬ count of the four scholarships to be established hereunder, which scholarships are to be originally conferred at the end

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Hon. Arthur Hill.

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of the high school years in 1804, 1895, 1890 and 1897, and are each to be reeonferred every four years thereafter. It was my first thought that these scholarships should be given only to those students who wished to secure a higher education, and who in the judgment of the board of trustees lacked the necessary financial means. After full consideration I decided not to so limit the awards. As the provision now stands it seems to furnish to the well-to-do that incentive which always goes with competitive efforl, as well as giving financial aid to those who both need and deserve it, with no sting of humiliation. It is not assumed that the sum here provided is sufficient to carry a student through the University, but I feel that it at least opens the doors of that institution to every earnest and capable boy and girl in our schools, and once within, by the practice of that self-help and self-denial which are at the base of all worthy success, they may pass out with diplomas. The scholarship to be awarded in 1894 and quadrennially thereafter 1 would designate as “The John Moore Scholar¬ ship, to connect with it the name of our distinguis hed towns¬ man, who took part in the government of our schools for nearly twenty years, covering practically the entire formative period. During this time he gave to tin cause of local education the constant aid of those commanding talents which have carried his name and fame to the uttermost limits of our state, and beyond. Elected an officer of the school district in 1851, when it employed but one teacher, with a school attendance of only 55 pupils, 1 e assisted first in making our schools free by abolishing the rate bill, then common in this state; next in erecting the first union school building, in those days a model of its kind, and establishing an appropriate course of study. In 1865 he aided in framing and assisting in the passage of that excellent act of tin Michigan legislature, under which the affairs of the district are placed in the exclusive control of trustees chosen from the city at large. Under this act the existing system of instruction was adopted, covering a period of twelve years, divided into the primary, grammar and high school courses of four years each. In 1870, the year when the first class graduated from our high school, in the great Dentral building costing $70,000, and equal at that time to any in the state, the time had at last come when In might fitly lay down his modest, useful office. Hut with that per¬ fect loyalty which marks his attachment to every chosen friend and cause, his interest and his pride in our public schools are undiminished. So let us all hope that lie ma live to see the scholarship which bears his name again and again conferred.