Windsor Locks High School - Herald Yearbook (Windsor Locks, CT)

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26 THE high school herald I am sure that you are all aware of the problem that schools are overcrowded everywhere. We should feel that it is our duty to give generously to the building of schools, especially those in our communities whenever they are needed, for the educa¬ tion of our youth is one of the biggest forces to combat the evils of today. We cannot expect to carry out our class motto, Our Aim: Success; Our Hope: to Win,” if we are not willing to co-operate and to do our share to promote improve¬ ment in the various fields where our help is needed. In order to be successful and win in life, we must have a thorough understanding of world situations and a will to step forth when we know we are needed and help to promote better living conditions. What does the future hold for us? Many of our futures are definite. Some of us will go to college, business schools, or enter the service. But for those of us who do not have definite plans, the time has now come to make the important decision. Certainly all the members of the graduating class, and those of former graduating classes, realize the importance of an education. They realize that an education is not merely a matter of receiving a diploma, but is significant because that diploma is a symbol that we have increased our knowledge and are now ready to begin a new life in the business of the world. As we, of the graduating class of 1954, look back to records of Windsor Locks fifty or even one-hundred years ago, we realize that our town has prospered in many ways. We look to the future for even greater improvements. In the horizon we see the end of war, crime, and the use of terrible explosives, such as the H Bomb. We see a nation united and all folks working together. We, living in America, often take too much for granted. We accept our liberty and freedom as a matter of course. But take Russia and her satellite countries, for example. They have no tomorrow to look forward to. They have little choice in their education, their occupations, or their plans for life. The State makes all the decisions. If they refuse to believe in God, they are sometimes punished severely. But we, living in America, may choose our own future and think and believe what we wish. Thus during our school days we are preparing ourselves to think and be better able to make the many decisions which must be made by free men. Willmott has said, Education is the apprenticeship of life.” How true this statement is! We have finished our period as apprentices, classmates, and Life, the master workman, is calling us to take our places among the workers of tomorrow. Joan Therrien ’54

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THE HIGH SCHOOL HERALD 25 SCIENCE CREATES PROBLEMS With scientists today experimenting and exploring into the nuclear fields, this new generation will have a great many new inventions and modern appliances to use. Our present day appliances are vastly improved over those of the past, but these modern appliances can be good and bad for us. Besides making life easier and more pleasant, they bring forth many problems which the graduates of today will have to face and try to solve. Television, for example, is one of these modern inventions that has a great many good and bad points. In fact television is an excellent means of education, entertain¬ ment and relaxation. Worthwhile information is brought to you right in your own homes through television. It also gives warnings of approaching dangers, gives both sides of political views, and keeps you up to date on what is happening in your own state, nation and the world. Television also tends to keep the family together, lessen the cost of entertainment, and keep children off the streets at night. Television ' s undesirable influences, on the other hand, are as numerous as its good points. It keeps people from reading, causes others to stay up late, keeps students from doing their homework, and it can be very injurious to the eyes, if one watches it con¬ tinuously. One of the worst points about television is that it causes people to become lazy. They put off doing tasks that could be done right away, with the excuse that a good program is on and they have to watch it. Another problem that this generation has to cope with is atomic energy. This is one of the big issues of today and it also has its good as well as its evil side. Scientists are trying to use atomic energy to generate electricity, extract new elements from the earth, and make new compounds. Medical Science sees atomic energy used as the possible determinant in the cure of cancer. But atomic energy also can be a means of great destruction to the human race, if there should ever be another world war. Past generations have done much to improve the living conditions of people today. With the increasing number of experimental laboratories and educational facilities, members of this generation will contribute much more to the welfare of people, but only the future knows what is in store for us. Robert Kelsey ' 54 THE TOMORROWS Windsor Locks recently celebrated its one-hundredth anniversary. It is not so important what happened fifty or even one-hundred years ago, but what tomorrow holds in store for us is important. Now let us look ahead in the years and see what important changes in education will take place in Windsor Locks. We know that Windsor Locks will soon build a new high school. This will enable future graduates to choose from a more extensive curriculum, such additional courses as varied music courses, arts and crafts, driving training classes, industrial arts, and more variety in home-making subjects. The population of Windsor Locks has been increasing rapidly, since new factories have moved to Windsor Locks and to the surrounding areas. A new elementary school is being built now, but we wonder how long it will provide adequate rooms for the instruction of the children from all these new families coming into Windsor Locks.

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THE HIGH SCHOOL HERALD 27 EDUCATION, THE FRAMEWORK OF CITIZENSHIP Our completion of the four years of high school commemorates twelve years of education. Now the time has come for us to step into our chosen places as citizens of our community, our state, and our country. How far shall we succeed in being really good citizens? First of all, we must understand the meaning of citizenship. The Constitution, in defining citizenship, says nothing about age or right to vote. In fact, a person does not have to be twenty-one years of age to be a citizen. No, an individual is an American citizen as soon as he is born or naturalized. The way of life he chooses is citizenship. He gains the under¬ standing and qualities of good citizenship by guidance from his home and school. He exercises citizenship by being loyal to his government, intelligent in his knowledge about the functions of the government and by being active in community affairs. Citizenship, like a building, is constructed on a foundation, and that foundation is the home or the environment. Furthermore, it must be so strong that citizenship may develop into loyalty, patriotism, courage and intelligence without being shattered under the blows of untruths and propaganda about one ' s government, one’s country or one ' s home. Our first lessons in citizenship are taught in the home, where we learn respect for authority; that is, to obey parents and abide by laws. The home also prepares us for later responsibilities by giving us an all-round training in physical, moral, intellectual and material duties and interests. If these interests are neglected, our highest hopes of good citizenship are impaired. Just as the home is the foundation for citizenship, education is the framework which includes the ideas, principles, and factors that bind the structure of citizenship into a formidable barrier through which untruth, ignorance, and dishonesty cannot pierce. In school, a person is taught at an early age to share with others, to tell the truth, to pledge allegiance to the flag and to pray with schoolmates. As the person grows older, he participates in various school activities. He may become president or vice- president of a club or of his class. Education, therefore, helps to develop sound leader¬ ship, which is a basic principle of citizenship. Co-operation, responsibility, and courtesy are other lessons taught through the school activities and necessary to an individual who possesses citizenship. Each of us succeeds in being a good citizen when we realize the duties and respon¬ sibilities of citizenship as well as the rights and privileges it gives to us. On the other hand, each of us is personally held liable to make an effort to gain information that will influence our ability to think wisely about the problems of our day and to do our share in maintaining our country ' s strength and prestige. As President Eisenhower once said, The American Republic was born to assure you the dignity and rights of a human individual. If the dignity and rights of your fellow men guide your daily conduct of life, you will be a good American.’’ And so, may you and I, the class of 1954, heed this advice of our leader today, and as we go through life, may we become worthy of the education afforded in these four years by being truly outstanding citizens of our community and of our country. Mary Simonetta ' 54, Co-Valedictorian