Crises have crowded upon each other in such rapid succession in recent years that many of us have come to regard them as synonymous with normalcy.  The pressure created by living amid recurring tensions has affected people in different ways.  Some view the future with dread, foreseeing the early doom of mankind in an atomic holocaust; others shrug their shoulders and seek escape by ignoring the larger world, finding refuge in personal problems or the fads of the moment.  Past history indicates that neither alternative is a wise one for young people to take.  Innumerable deadly weapons have been discovered in the past, from the Assyrian battering ram, through the medieval cross-bow, to poison gas.  Somehow, man has survived all of them.  The probability is that he will survive the atomic weapons as well.

Comforting as this thought may be, let us not underestimate the increased responsibilities that the atomic age places on youth.  The world is a smaller, tighter, more closely knit unit.  The airplane has brought the entire globe within a few hours of your home.  Breakfast in New York and dinner in Paris, Caracas, or Los Angeles is so commonplace as to be accepted without comment.

Paradoxically, though man stands smack in the middle of the Atomic Age so far as physical science is concerned, he is still back in the Stone Age in social and political relationships.  This, then, is the challenge facing youth, to bring man's social and political capacities abreast of the powers science has given him.

I trust that the Class of 1957 will do its share in solving this problem. I trust too, that each of you will successfully surmount the myriad personal problems that will face you in life.

May the future bring all of you happiness and the fulfillment of your dreams.  May you ever be proud of your school and your class.

Max Berger

Principal