Ilion High School - Class of 1921

The Utica Daily Press - June 29, 1917

Ilion High Students Wear Caps and Gowns

Members of Largest Class in History of Village Receive Diplomas While Garbed in Unusual Dignity at Commencement Exercises.

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Ilion High Students Wear Caps and Gowns

Members of Largest Class in History of Village Receive Diplomas While Garbed in Unusual Dignity at Commencement Exercises.

Ilion - June 21 - The commencement exercises of the class of 1921, the largest class ever graduated from the Ilion High School, were attended this evening by as many of the relatives and friends of the class as the high school auditorium could hold. The platform was artistically decorated with Canterbury bells and buttercups, emphasizing the class colors, purple and gold.

This year's graduation class was the first from the Ilion High School to be attired in caps and gowns. They made a very dignified and pretty appearance as they took their places in the front of the auditorium while the high school orchestra played and appropriate march.

"THE CHALLENGE OF POETRY"

The services were opened by the invocation by Re. L. r. Benson, following which a selection was rendered by the Girls' Glee Club.

Miss Hilda Shaul, salutatorian, was the first class speaker. In her essay, "The Challenge of Poetry," she showed that in this age with all of its marvelous mechanical electrical and wireless devices, every thing is ready for a man who will loom large in the horizon of fame in literature ---- that there is even more inspiration in the present day than there was in the day of Home or Shakespeare, and in the day of Goethe, more pathos in the factory worker of today and more tragedy in the destruction of a naval until.

Why We Need Latin

Miss Mildred Jenne's oration, "Ancient Rome's Legacy to Modern Nations," was a plea for the continuation of the study of Latin as a needed factor in the life of the educated person of today. The form of government we have inherited from the Romans, the place which Roman divinities hold in present day literature and art and the influence of the Latin tongue on our own language today, was well as in the Romance languages, were swelt upon as our inheritance from Rome.

Help Solve Problems

"Beyond the Alps Italy" was the subject of Miss Catherine Van Alstyne's essay, in which she urged a sufficient diversity of courses in high schools to enable every student to satisfy his demands for more particular training later in order to be prepared to meet the ….and economic demands of our present complex life. She appealed in her classmates, to use the opportunities which the future holds for their who have finished their high school courses and to determine to be in the van of those who will help solve the problems of the age.

What Ilion High Did for Me

The next speaker was Miss Doris Burghoff, whose topic, "What the Ilion High School Has Meant to the class of 1921," covered the four years in which the social and athletic, ass well as the scholastic realm of the high school life had combined to develop character which will qualify for success in spite of reverses. She emphasized the sentiment formed in the minds of the class from the associations with strong teachers, rendering a full measure of service.

The next speaker was Miss Doris Burghoff, whose topic, "What the Ilion High School Has Meant to the class of 1921," covered the four years in which the social and athletic, ass well as the scholastic realm of the high school life had combined to develop character which will qualify for success in spite of reverses. She emphasized the sentiment formed in the minds of the class from the associations with strong teachers, rendering a full measure of service.

The last speaker was Miss Mary Gilchrist, the valedictorian of the class. The subject of her essay was "An UnPaid Part of Our War Debt," in which she advocated giving the disabled soldier, who had measured up to the same terms as those who fell in battle, but who survived with one, two or perhaps three limbs missing, the self-respect of self-support by providing training in schools with consideration in the soldier's former occupation and to his present fitness.

Her valedictory address completely expressed the regret of the class of the …which graduation involves and the deep … of the trails and the high standards of the Alma Mater, the sacrifices of parents, the interest and the devotion of the board of education and the whole hearted efforts of the faculty.

The Girls' Glee Club then rendered "In Springtime" by Daniels.

Diplomas Awarded

Superintendent of Schools H. M. Schwartz presented diplomas to the following:

General Course:
Elizabeth Pauline Amond,
Marion K. Baker,
Mary Elizabeth Baker,
John Laeliz Bates,
Elizabeth Irene Bray,
W. Ernest Dowling,
Mary Katherine Ellis,
Elenore H. Fish,
Muriel I. Fuller,
George W. Gerber,
Ina May Holt,
Ruth Ariouine Kerth,
Frances Caroline Loeffler,
Philip H. Lyman,
Helen K. Malley [Mallery],
Grace Emily Nichols,
Margaret M. Orr,
Mabel C. Peterson,
C. Harriette Rasbach,
Laura J. Reed,
Margaret N. Rivers,
Elizabeth Caroline Rix,
Shirley L. Russell,
Grace Winefred Sackett,
George H. Schneider,
Robert F. Shea,
Clara May Snyder,
Doric C. Stimson,
E. Ernest Tayler,
Adele Welch.

Classical course:
Helen Edna Burns,
Doris L Burghoff,
Helen E. Decker,
Fred J. Gerber,
Mary Alice Gilchrist,
Margaret L. Green,
Ruth Ameilia Griffith,
Mildred Perl Nenne,
Mary Louise Rix,
Mary F. Robinson,
Hilda Marie Shaul,
Katherine Anna Steele,
Florence Tjeerdsma.

Commercial Course:
Evelyn Gertrude Cohoon,
James J. Crosby,
Minerva Jane Eaker,
Harry H. Schell,
J. Karl Schneider,
Mildred Margaret Williams.

Scientific course:
James William Allston,
Donald E. Buckley,
Emerson W. Gifford,
Charles G. Gough,
George W. Hartford,
Edward H. Hoelsch,
Joseph K. O'Neil,
D. Harvey Overheiser,
Wallace E. Sitts,
Catherine Van Alstyne,
James Norris Wilfert.

The exercises closed with the benediction pronounced by Rev. L. R. Benson.