May 22, 1913 Collins High School Commencement Exercises The most important event of the school year is the graduation of the 12th grade students who, having finished their school work, are ready to begin the duties of manhood and womanhood. The Collins Schools provide a liberal education for the students who persevere to the close, and send them out into the world of everyday life with credentials that are a passport for entrance to the work they may undertake in the various callings, or preparatory for the studies of a profession.
The graduation took place in the opera house Friday evening before a fashionable audience that packed the auditorium. The proscenium was decked with ferns and flowers and the stage electric lamps were brilliantly effective. The class motto on black cloth with scarlet letters, “The elevator to success is not running, take the stairs, ” was elevated and suspended across the rear of the stage. As the orchestra played, the graduates and Supt. Kirk took seats on the stage, while the other members of the faculty and the Board of education occupied seats reserved specially for them in the auditorium.
The members of the graduating class were: Ethel B. Carver, Leon E. Keagle, Hazel M. Marsh, Florence A. Oxley, John B. Thompson.
The following was the order of the program: Music – Orchestra, Invocation – Rev. Violet, Music – Orchestra, Chorus – “O Happy Days gone by ” – HS, Oration “The Blight of Idleness ” – Ethel B. Carver, Oration “Progress and Poverty ” – John B. Thompson, Vocal Solo – Harold Lingenfelter, Oration
“Things Worth While ” – Hazel M. Marsh, Instrumental Solo – Forest Graef, Oration “Determination, the Basis of Success, ” – Florence A. Oxley, Oration “Character ” – Leon E. Keagle, Music – Orchestra, Presentation of Class – Supt. Kirk, Presentation of Diplomas – Dr. R. C. Robertson, Benediction – Rev. Violet.
The orations were very credible productions. The subjects were such as the appealed to a popular audience and were treated with frankness. The ideas were fresh and vigorous and were clothed in apt and good English. The delivery was marvelously fine, considering the difficulties encountered. As the graduates spoke rain fell against the windows in torrents, thunder shook the building and the lightening was pyrotechnic display that was too vivid and too incessant and too close for comfort. The windows had all to be closed to keep out the deluge, the result being a hot auditorium, but not so hot as the stage where the graduates nobly triumphed over every obstacle and effectively delivered their orations without the omission of a single syllable.
Supt. Kirk paid the class a high compliment, showing that the five graduates that kept their studies side by side, to within a fraction during the four grades of high school. Such training is bound to tell in the work of life.
Dr. Robertson, president of the board of education preceded the presentation of the diplomas by a brief, but pointed and appreciative address.
The orchestra was very helpful and entertaining: Giving pretty selections that were enjoyed. Mrs. Forrest Graef with piano solo and Harold Lingenfelter with vocal solo added much to the success of the