As the Archie Williams Class of 2026 prepares to graduate, The Pitch decided to take a walk down memory lane and gather some advice from Sir Francis Drake High School’s Class of 1983. The writing below features an article from the school’s previous student-run newspaper, prior to its renaming, known as The Jolly Rodger. This article is an excerpt from the publication’s senior edition, volume 32, released June 3, 1983.
Acceptance of Virtue
With graduation a few days away students will begin looking forward to new changes. High School will become but a memory. For some that memory will be a pleasant one; for others it will be one best forgotten.
In the four years of high school people grow. Attitudes and characteristics may change by the year or even by the month. As the student changes he learns from experience.
During the first few years of high school an often emotionally unbalancing dilemma occurs when a person has to choose the people (s)he wants as friends. (S)he may try to be liked, to get into the popular clique. Some want to act as others expect them to act for getting or discharging who they really are. Once in a clique they do not want to change for fear of becoming an outcast. Getting to know others who may be interesting, yet different, is fearful. It becomes a “task” that is usually avoided.
Judging people without knowing them is a sign of a very close-minded, immature person. Just because someone dresses or acts differently does not mean (s)he is abnormal or “gross”. Imagine being in the shoes of one who is the object of jokes or whom no one wants to talk to because of their lack of popularity or even notoriety.
As a person grows older, we hope these trivial prejudices are cast aside. A friend may be found in a person who was once considered so strange. But unfortunately this realization is not usually made until a person experiences prejudice himself.
Your Four Years at Drake: What would you have done differently?
Mike Ford: “I would have tried harder in my classes and extracurricular activities.”
Leon Bezneck: “Wish I could have been a star football player like Jim Horn.”
Mike Addy: “I would have put more work into my studies and not cut so much.”
Doug Devore: “I would’ve gone to SWAS*, shaved my head, and started my own rock band.”
Lena Lundberg: “I would have gone to Redwood.”
*SWAS: Stands for “school within a school” and was an alternative high school program offered on Sir Francis Drake campus.
