The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1927-06-23
W. c. WALSH ADDRESSES
SENIORS; AWARDS MADE
The Advantages of having High
School Graduates Each Year
Is Told by Speaker

tied States and the advantages of
having many pupils graduate each
year from the various high schools
throughout the country, were the ma
in points brought out in the Common
cement address given to the gradu-
ates of Oakland High school by the
Hon. William C. Walsh, of Hagers-
town.. on last Thursday evening in
the Maryland theatre.
The graduating class contained SO
boys and girls, making it one of the
largest classes ever to finish at any
one time. The presentation of diplo-
mas and awards was made by w. R.
Offutt, attorney at law. The follow
ing prizes and awards were made:
Biology prizes, given by Mr.. JOS
eph E. Harmed; Mitchell Franklin,
first prize of S., Lorraine Bittinger
and Adeline Sincell, second and third
prizes of $3.50 each.
Medals were given for the follow
ing: to Kenneth St<hl, for the Boys
High School Defamation contest; to
Teresa Kendall for the Girls contest.
Special honors went to Mary Jane Of
futt and Mitchell Franklin for parti-
cipation in dramatics.
Certificates of general excellence
were given to Ruth Fike, Virginia Do
dge, and James Lee. Helen Hine-
baugh, Lorraine Bittinger, Walter
Killius, Reginald Ford, and Bernadet-
tie Maffett were ALL given certificates
of perfect attendance during the past
session.
Those graduating were: Gerald
Biggs, Ralph Blake, Carlton Bowser,
Edmund Butler, Mildred Casteel, Dor
is Colaw, McClelland Dixon, Virginia
Dodge, Mary Faherty, Ruth Fike,
Mitchell Franklin, Douglas Helbig,
Lillian Holtschneider, Norrene Host
etler, Mary Jankey, Iona Right.
y Lola King, Cecilia Lawton, James
Lice, Louise Lewis, Nellie Murphy, Ell
len Nine, Hazel Nine, Mary Jane Of
futt, Lucille Ours, Juanita Ready,
Dorothy Sembower, Irene Smouse,
Pauline Smouse, Mildred Vansickle,
Myrtle White, Beatrice Wilt, and Ha-
rold Yutzy.
The speech of Mr.. Walsh follows:
Members of the Graduating Glass of
Oakland High School, Ladies and
Gentlemen:
There is, so far as l know, no more
pleasant or finer experience in life
than that of graduating from school.
1t is a notable event. 1t marks the
successful completion of the first
stage of your journey through this
world and signifies that you have met
and conquered your first real prob
lem. There will be other problems
later on, but l venture the assertion
that no matter how well you cope
with them there will be few if any
which give you as much genuine
pleasure and enjoyment as you will
derive from your graduation here to-
night. 1t is no mean achievement to
graduate from high school-it means
that year in and year out for many
years, first in the elementary grades
and later in your high school classes
you have passed your examinations
and acquired sufficient knowledge to
merit your promotion to the next
higher class, it means that day in and
day out over long period of time
you have gone regularly to school.
1t means that evening after evening
you have stayed at home and studied
your lessons, and finally it means
that through all that time your con-
duct both in and out of school has
been good. l don't mean that you are
"goody-goodies" may and prob
ably did occasionally get into mis-
chief, but you committed no serious
wrongs. You lived up to the normal
American standard, and as you con-
tinue to live up to that standard you
will be good boys and girls, and later
YOU will be good men and women and
good citizens of our great country.
Your graduation shows that you have
perseverance, that you have ability
and that you have character. You
have fought the good fight and won,
and I want to congratulate each OF
you upon your victory. 1t is some
thing you may well be proud of and
if, in the years to come, you put the
Same SOTI Ol eHOII lilUO yOul WI n,
whatever it may be, you will win the
same sort of victories and your lives
will be eminently successful.
There are some people who attempt
to make fun of graduates, but | do
not think there are any thoughtful
', people among them. Certainly if we
rrhad no graduates for several years in
o. America the lack of them would be
quite seriously felt, and if there were
no graduates for any considerable
number of years the entire country
would go backwards instead of for
ward. There is ample room for you
all; there will be plenty of room for
those who follow in your footsteps
next year, and so on indefinitely, and
the more there are of you there are
every year the better it will be for
the country. Fortunately the num-
Der of graduates is steadily increas-
ing. There may be an occasional de-
crease in individual schools, but thru
out the nation there is always an in
crease, and thanks to the remarkable