Wilkes University - Amnicola Yearbook (Wilkes Barre, PA)

Page 12 text:

Presideutls Message To the Class of 1958: The years that you have spent at Wilkes will have varying values for each of you, but these years are now a part of you, and I hope that, in the years to come, they may prove to be a rich and strong portion of your life. Four years of search and 0f e170rt must a17eet the lives of any person, and these years of study should have opened to each of you new vistas for self-deaelopment and for greater service. All of us live in a period of accelerating change, and none of us can foresee all that lies before us. The best that we can do is to so shape our own lives that we will be strong enough to endure the vicissitudes of life and wise enough to shape our lives so that we may enjoy a measure of happiness and of achievement. We can never be sure that our chosen goals will be attained, for we are a part of the times in which we live, and the divergent influences that shape the time, must also shape the lives of each of us. Many things will happen to us that we would avoid, but eaerythin g that happens becomes a part of us for good or bad. And, to some extent, we can determine whether it shall be good or bad. We can drift with the tide, or we can make the best of every situation, whether it be chosen by us or thrust upon us. By our attitudes and by the values that we hold, we can make each experience a path to despair, or to a brighter future. As Tennyson has said, I am a part of all that I have met; Yet all experience is an arch wherethrough Gleams that untraaelea' world, whose margins fade Forever and forever as I move? May your arches of exgerienee lead you to greater happiness and to more significant lives!

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Page 13 text:

12 Wefzagbwz . . , The most important thing to which we are paying tribute is the double celebration which Wilkes is holding this year . . . the twenty-Fifth year of its founding and the gradua- tion of the eleventh class from the college. Bucknell University wished to provide the citizens of Wilkes-Barre an opportunity for the advantages of higher education comparable with those in other areas of the na- tion. In 1933 Bucknell University Junior College was established in Wilkes-Barre to serve the young people of the Wyoming Valley. The plans of development caused the college to grow rapidly and steps were made to have the program ex- tended to establish a four-year col- lege. In 1946 the students were given the opportunity for the first time to complete their four-year college edu- cation in Wilkes-Barre. It was at this time that the college satisfied the requirements of the state and in June of 1947 the Junior College be- came Wilkes College with an inde- pendent legal status. The earliest classes were held in rented ofIice space, and most of the faculty was drawn from Bucknell. It was at the request of the Admin- istration and the Board of Trustees that some of the community's lead- ing citizens enabled the college to move into permanent quarters. Conyngham Hall and Chase Hall were the first buildings belonging to Wilkes College. The Weckesser and Kirby homes were added to the college to facilitate its rapid growth. The Board of Trustees gave Gies Hall, Barre Hall, Butler Hall, and Pickering Hall to the college. Ash- ley and Sterling Halls were be- quested to the college as was the McClintock residence to facilitate housing for out-of-town women students. Later acquisitions of the college were Harding Hall, the Sturdevant House, and Hollenback Hall, for classroom and faculty offices. War- ner Hall, Gore Hall, Weiss Hall, and George Catlin Hall were added for dormitory facilities. In 1957 the Harold R. Stark Hall of Science was dedicated for the advancement of science. In the twenty-five years of its growth Wilkes College has made tremendous progress in the field of education. In the twenty-five years of its growth, the students of Wilkes have experienced everything from a depression, a World War, and a change in a political wayof-life. All through these times the students of Wilkes have wanted a college edu- cation. They have all had different personal goals, yet they have all been here for the foundation for attain- ing the goals which they had set for themselves.