Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1916-06-18

FHIGH SCHOOL GRADS
I RECEIVE DIPLOMAS
Three Hundred and Seventy-Seven
Young Men and Women Are
Graduated at Auditorium.
!. HoNoRs FOR SOUTH STUDENTS
n That perennial miracle, that picture
of beauty, that feast of Joy for par
ents provided by the sight OF their
learned children in caps and gowns
being presented with diplomas by
dignified educators while other wis
dom-laden ones look on approvingly
was provided Friday.
The Auditorium was filled with ad-
miring parents, brothers and sisters,
uncles and aunts to see the first conf
bined commencement exercises of the
three high schools OF Greater Omaha.
The Board of Education had
/ solemnly met some time ago and
\ solemnly decreed, adjudged and or
\ dered that this commencement should
be entirely free from ostehtation and
display g..
A Grand Event.
But how can such an affair be free
Safrom ostentation when there are no
less than 2l5 sweet girl graduates, be-
sides l6l boys! How can it be free
from di; play when fifty youthful Of
ficers march across the stage in full
dress taiform with white belts,
gloves, trousers and with shining
swords, to receive their commissions
1t can't be done without display and
ostentation, august board. And it
shouldn't be done without d. and O.
because this kind of d. and O. is
mighty attractive and inspiring to us
older folks.
#4 The 377 graduates of the Central
High school, South Side High school
and High School of Commerce, all
wearing gray caps and gowns,
y marched in single file up the two
aisles of the Auditorium while a
samarch was played by Miss Pearl
Minick and Miss Gracs Trowbridge.
IL Applause was continuous from the
audience, as parents and friends rec
ognized those in whom they were par
ticularly interested. The graduates
\ occupied seats Immediately in front of
the platform.
Officials All Present
The principals of the three high
schools, with Superintendent OF
Schools E U. Graft. several members
of the school board and the speaker
of the evening, John D. Shoop, super
intendent of the Chicago public
schools, occupied seats on the plat
form, the front of which was banked
with palms, ferns and flowers.
Superintendent Graft presided Rev.
Titus Lowe pronounced the invoca-
ton and then the fifty splendid young
officers in full dress uniforms
marched upon the platform and re-
ceived their commissions, Arthur c.
Wakeley Of the Board Of Education
making the presentations. ..
DR.. Shops address was on "Edu-
cation and Life He recommended
tenacity of purpose, individuality,
self-control and courage as virtues
which will enable the individual to
give the greatest service to humanity
Education" he said, lis not the
lifting of bundles of unrelated facts
by ponderous pedagogical machinery
1t is growth, evolution and the 'intelli-
gent assimilation of the truths Of
nature,
World Demands Action.
"The world will not ask you how
much you know, bat what practical
good you can do with what you know.
The world demands action, efficient
and purposeful It is necessary for
you to create, not merely to initiate.
And it is the amount of your better
self that you put into your life which
will make its value.
The province of education is to
make us leap over sectionalism and
provincialism, to shake hands with
him who worships at the shrine of a
foreign faith and to be Americans
ever.
\ BE courageous. I have supreme
<contempt for two kinds of men. One
is the man who can't stand success;
the other is the man who can't stand
failure. Build like that man in Kan
sas who built fence. 1t was six feet
wide and four feet high. When a
visitor called his attention to this he
said he built it so that when a cyclone
struck it and turned it over it would
be higher than before. Such spirit
couldn't fail. 1t turns adversely into
success"
Honors Distributed.
Three honor students were an
nounced from the forty-five graduates
of the, South Side High school. They
are Louis Wirth, first honors, with an
average of 93 plus in all his studies
for the four years. He receives a
scholarship in the University of Chi
cago. Second honors went to Merle
E. Curti with an average of 90 plus
Third honors were won by Flora
Wirth WAY an average of 90.
The diplomas were presented by C.
]. Ernst, president of the Board OF
Education. The young graduates
marched slowly across the front OF
the stage. This ceremony occupied
nearly an hour.
IT, n