TO: THE MEMBERS OF THE 1958 GRADUATION CLASS - GREETINGS

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It is my pleasure to greet you as you reach another plateau in your formal education. The Gates of Knowledge have been opened to you and perhaps some of you have glimpsed the Pathway of Wisdom.

The world has urgent need of those who live clean lives and speak the truth; therefore I am concerned with knowing whether or not the school has provided those experiences which have caused you to grow.

This particular time in your life marks, with a degree of finality, the end of your childish, immature ways and the beginning of an adult life, tempered by the ideals of maturity.

You are about to advance another step on the ladder of education. Education in the future, even as in the past, is one of the most important factors in a successful life.

That which you are to be, you have been, and are now becoming. In an age such as the one in which you live, with an ever increasing knowledge of all things, it is most important, in fact it is essential that you have an education adequate for meeting the demands of the future.

Occupational standards are higher today than ever before, therefore, a greater per cent of educated people are needed to occupy these positions in industry. Your financial status in this age is largely determined by your mental ability and the formal education which you have received.

Your minds mature through education. That which you have gained here at Vigor High School has helped in building the foundation of your character. However, learning never ceases. The motto of New Mexico aptly states what education does. "It grows as it goes." Very few of us ever learn that which we are capable of learning. Sometimes we have become a little tired of school, forgetting the wonderful opportunity afforded by the school systems of America. However, now you stand, looking toward the future, ready to meet life on its own terms. John Oxenham has pointed to the future with these words:

To every man there openeth

A way, and ways, and a way

And the high soul climbs the highway,

And the low souls gropes the low;

And in between on the misty flats,

The rest drift to and fro;

But to every man there openeth

A highway and a low,

And every man decideth

The way his soul shall go.

No, graduation in itself is not success. Now, it is up to each one of you to make your life worthwhile. May you face the future with courage, knowledge, wisdom and inspiration.

Sincerely,

R. L. Booker, Principal

Vigor High School

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