To the Students of Henry Grady:
Perhaps it is well to pause a moment in these last days of the school year
to take stock. It has been a good and a full year. Most of you have been
so busy with homework, plays, concerts, sports and athletics, assemblies,
publications, club activities, and special events that you have not had
time to count the months. You have shown your interest in school by seeming
to enjoy it. We have bad almost no serious misbehavior in our school. Your
cooperation in the care of the grounds, cafeteria, restrooms, and halls
has been a source of pride and inspiration.
You may recall what I said in the first assembly last fall that we would seek two objectives during the year: the continued high standards of scholarship, and the growth of school spirit and pride. Your excellent teachers in the class room day after day and your hard work night after night have maintained the first objective. Your work to make the school something to be proud of has achieved the second. School spirit is not only yelling at a game; it may be in your cooperation in the care of the building, or your conduct on the trolley, or in the smile and cheer of your "Good morning!" Your school spirit is obvious in your high morale and good citizenship. Yes, it has been a good and a full year, and you have made it a happy and rewarding year for me.
I hope that you successfully complete all your subjects. May you have a safe and profitable summer. Work hard and play clean whether it is summer school, the grocery store or summer camp. And God bless you and keep you.
R.W. Stephens
Grady Makes Strides Under Mr. Stephens
We are finishing our first year with a new principal, who last fall expressed
his faith in Grady students. The principalship of a large school such as
ours is a difficult job. Not only has Mr. Stephens kept it one of the top
schools in the South academically, but he has also made great strides in
promoting extra-curricular activities. Interest in athletics has been stimulated
because we have had winning teams and because we have had more pep rallies
this year.
Socially we have had several school-sponsored dances this year because Mr. Stephens realized that merely outlawing certain organizations without providing some substitute for the activities they furnish is no real solution to the problem.. Grady is indeed fortunate to have so able and understanding a man as its principal.
As we look in the encyclopedia for the division on essays, we find that this entire section has been sliced from the book. Horrified at this discovery, we quickly look in other sets and find the same situation. Upon inquiry into this condition, we learn that not only have books been cut up, but also they have been carried out of the library without being checked out or returned. We wonder how these thoughtless students can fail to recognize that in their acts of a few seconds, they are depriving classes to come and maybe their best friend or own sister or brother of the benefit of this knowledge.
Money to buy these books comes mainly from the fees which we ourselves pay. In the case of the encyclopedias we spread the payments over a three-year period; therefore some of the books which have been ruined have not even been paid for.
It is impossible for the present day schools to operate without books. By so thoughtlessly committing these crimes in the library, one is defeating its purpose. It is meant to be a service organization, a place in which to feel free to come and go, but not to take.