Worcester State University - Oak Leaf Yearbook (Worcester, MA)

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This was the Sophomore Testing Program. It tested not only our knowledge, but our endurance. January brought with it the lancer versus building controversy, and we felt we were taking a giant step forward in ordering our class rings. The Sophomore prom, the final exams, and the class picnic drew the year quickly to a close. There was, however, one consolation — we were now upperclassmen. It was our Junior year; how could it be otherwise? The words flannel board were in the air. Unsuspecting lumber men and those who sold flannel soon were enlightened when we explained the reason for our purchases. In spite of frowned foreheads and hammered thumbs, nearly everyone was extremely proud of his workmanship, that is to say, in most cases, of his father ' s workmanship. Pitch pipes, units, painted clothespins, registers, and the beloved Burton were our tools of learning that year; each of these brings its own memories. While the elementa- ries were cramming their heads with professional terms such as motivation and individual differences, the secondaries, with their new scientific learning, were knowingly discussing the aspects of climatology and physiography. Although we may have been divided in our studies, we were strongly united on the most important evening of the year, November sixteenth, the date of the Junior prom, the theme of which was Queen For a Knight. The most dazzling day in our lives was January twenty-fifth. Class rings had arrived! The wearing of them bolstered our - morale, for they symbolized part of our achievement and brought us one step nearer graduation. Practice teaching loomed ahead for many of us, and Dr. Foster gave unstint- ingly of her time in order to place us in favorable situations. Do you recall that first frightening morning when we stood before the principal of our assigned school and introduced ourselves? For the elementaries, high heels, ties, pressed suits, lesson plans, frazzled nerves, and supervisors were part of the accepted order. For the secondaries it was a time of additional study. With the National Teacher Examination successfully passed, measurements for cap and gown taken, and Cook ' s Canyon toured from one rugged end to the other, the academic year was crowding to a close. The long awaited hope of an additional building became a reality with the breaking of ground for its construction. The old order was yielding place to new. We were disappointed somewhat in the knowledge that we would not see its comple- tion or make use of its facilities; we felt, nevertheless, that the close student body ties which were a natural result of association under one roof were ours and could never be completely recaptured by succeeding classes. Each day a shadow onward cast Which made us wish it yet might last— That time long past. It was Senior year! The first outward sign of our newly-gained status was evidenced in the seating arrangement in assembly. By tradition, the coveted balcony was ours. On October eleventh the dignified Pomp and Circumstance played for us on the occasion of our Senior Tea and the donning of our caps and gowns for the first time. The secondaries had taken their leave to do practice teaching; the elementaries remained to go in search of leaves of another nature. Remember the parking problem that attracted college and city attention, and the

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CLASS HISTORY Memories are made of this . . The fairest things have fleetest end, and so it is that our college years have swiftly been accomplished. Knowing that these precious days will last as long as they are remembered, we now carefully recall the facts of our class history, a history of memories. Our initial introduction to college life came on the thirteenth of September, 1954, at which time we numbered one hundred and eighty-two students. Who can forget those first few hectic days when our problems were concerned with adjusting to schedules, searching for assigned seats in assembly, and fumbling through the hand- book in an effort to find the words of the college hymn? Our official entrance into social affairs occurred on the evening of the Freshman Welcome Dance. It was by means of this event that we passed from the status of individuals to a unified class group, the election of officers which soon followed attesting to this. Under the leadership of William Owens, president, Carol Roseen, vice-president, Marie Fitzgibbons, secretary, and Thomas McGrain, treasurer, Sleighbell Serenade, our first prom, was presented on January fourteenth in our gymnasium. The days sped along, as they usually do, and February, Miss Scribner, and Mr. Patterson brought in the shrouded frogs. It was a time of to each his own. Each, elbow deep in scientific buckets, searched for his own amphibian specimen, his namesake. This, too, was the month in which we chose our very capable faculty adviser, Dr. Walter A. Busam, and also elected Paul Sullivan as our class president, an office which he was to hold for the duration of our college life. With Spring came the Scholarship Tea, the picnic in Leicester, and Class Day exercises, all of which has a significant impact on our memories. Glancing backwards now on that first Class Day, we can recall how far then the distant future seemed, especially when we thought of our own class and its planting of the ivy; and yet, just as that particular plant has taken root and flourished, so too, our class even then, was on its way toward its attainment, for we had achieved a Sophomore status. Remember the feeling of really belonging which was ours when we returned the following September? How can one aptly define that conscious prestige which only a Sophomore can appreciate as he considers his Freshmen brethren? Our first social event of the year, a welcome dance for the incoming class, took place in our gymnasium on September thirtieth. Following closely came all College Week during which assembly skits presented by the undergraduates were anticipated and thoroughly enjoyed. Who will not recall the mornings when we rose at dawn to secure an advantageous position in line outside Dr. Winslow ' s room for the tete-a-tetes on book reports? These also were the days which saw the transformation on many a rock n roller into a devotee of Beethoven, due to Miss Kendrick ' s introduction of his Fifth Symphony. Remember these words — Stop! Turn to page three. You have thirty minutes. ? 10

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time the girls smoker became co-ed? These other memories, too, persist . . . Hymn 1 09 . . . Senior table in the cat . . . spaghetti and meatballs . . . move your car ... professional fitness . . . form follows function . . . four flights to the library . . . Arabella Tucker . . . the wide green earth . . . Christmas in the rotunda. Our lives now took on a quickening pace and we were engulfed in class write-ups, smiles for the photographer, rewrites, retakes, interviews and contracts, all of which brought us to mid-term and the renewed feeling of togetherness in our class. March meant to us a long conference weekend in New York. Group singing, Times Square, the Automat, tired feet, Broadway plays, Macy ' s, school visits, panel discussions with other college delegates — these are the impressions that linger of that occasion. In our honor the Sophomores planned a prom, the theme of which was I ' ll Remember April. For us as Seniors it had a special significance and seemed to be closely succeeded by our own dinner dance at the fashionable Blue Hills Country Club. Too soon the three most meaningful occasions of our college life were before us, Class Day, Baccalaureate, and Graduation. To enjoy, yet to be sad, to desire days gone by, yet cherish the here-and-now were reactions each student felt but could not adequately express. These enumerated events have made our history, the story of the Class of 58, a story that is unfinished, for its satisfactory fulfillment lies in the challenging future and in the hands of God. Ann Garrity Dominick McGrail Lois Wennersfrand 12