White Pigeon High School - Wahbememe Yearbook (White Pigeon, MI)

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Parents, Guests, Faculty and Fellow Graduates: Twenty-five years ago this month my grandfather gave the baccalaureate address at my mother's high school graduation. My grandfather's subject that afternoon was High On A Hilltop. The subtitle was Beyond Security-Adventure. Many of his thoughts are as relevant today as they were those years ago. I would like to share some of his thoughts with you this afternoon. There is one thing we will do well to bear in mind in facing this proud day we share together. We must do our thinking High on a Hilltop. We must try to steer clear of security in our thinking. We must set our goals on adventure. The curse of this age is conformity. We are trying desperately to land everybody at the top and regiment them into mass excellence. We are trying to interpret leadership as something everyone is to share. This mass movement, friends, is contrary to nature's plan and purpose. There will not always be room for all of us High on the Hilltop. Time has a way of weeding out those addicted to mediocrity. Twenty-five years from now, some of us, thanks to the foundations laid here at White Pigeon, will make the top. Some of us may be quite content to be listed among the average. Others will take hold and master the truths which make for attainment. What is it that will elevate us to a position where leadership has its way? Circumstances today call for security and this word is dinned into our hearts daily. The trouble is, one's assurances deteriorate when the economy takes a tail-spin. Note the hysteria of this hour as we look out over America There is tough sledding ahead for us all. Conformity-uniformity-mass exhibitions of totalitarian redemption must be put out of favor-at least for the time being. We might hope to put it out of favor for good. There may not be a place for rugged individualism, but we are in dire need as a country for those who have the initiative and the fortitude to face life in all its areas and to master it. In other words, fellow graduates, we have to get in there and start pitching. We must show some of that hustle our forbearers seem to have possessed. We must stop the whining and start the winning. Cast aside the idea that if we fail to qualify in our fields that some welfare or government program will take over our salvation and lead us High on the Hilltop. The standard brand of yesterday's ease and comfort must now make way for our personal initiative and personal agressiveness. The old escalator that transported people High on the Hilltop has broken down. We, in this day and age, are going to have to reach the summit on foot. And, if we reach it, we will be more of a man or a woman for having done so. I call upon each one of you, my fellow graduates, to listen to the call of adventure; to be brave when bravery alone can save the day. Let us set our hopes and dreams 'High upon the Hilltop.' Let us rise up out of the mediocrity, forget the average idolatry and dedicate our hearts and souls to the task of climbing. No matter what our calling, let us give it a hustle! This is a wholesome state of mind and it brings leadership. Integration in dealing with success still pivots on the glory of the parts. We cannot change human nature by edict, or by law, or by handouts. Character, said Christ, is a personal assignment. Our country and age needs us as young people to go in and pitch for what is right. Tomorrow, fellow graduates, is the first day of the rest of our lives. It is also the day we start making our dreams come true. Let us make it an adventure. Let us be willing to soar. We have the potential to be the nucleus of tomorrow's leadership. Thank you Mom and Dad. Thank you other parents, friends, and faculty for giving us our headstart on the hilltop climb. Our adventure in leadership has begun with your solid foundation. To my fellow graduates, it is my hope that we will all crest High on the Hilltop in whatever field of work we choose and that we will see life as an adventure. To my grandfather, a special thank you for the visions and challenges offered by you those years ago. We, the class of 1983, accept your challenge for the coming adventure of out lives. Julia Deller O'Sullivan Valedictorian As graduates on this day, we stand suspended in a moment of transition. We are like individuals standing on the middle step of a flight of stairs with our past high school education below us and our futures as adults above us. As we stand on this middle step, we look down at our past in high school, at each step below us that has aided us on our way to this first plateau; friends gained and lost, obstacles and failures overcome. As we remember, a deluge 28