Homecoming Edition SIGNPOST Page 3 Glimpses of Weber College Life During Past Decade The Presidents Message I always look forward to Homecoming time here at Weber college for it is a time of gladness when faces of former students appear on our campus for the assembly, the reception, and our annual football game. At Homecoming time, we usually like to recount our bygone activities, retell the fun of the good old days, and visit with former teachers and friends. Since the start of the last war, Weber has undergone a tremendous growth both in student population and in facilities for teaching our students. It was only ten years ago that our students numbered slightly over 500, we were engaged in a terrible war and we had a small seven-acre plot to call home. The progress made in the last ten years is truly amazing. Today we have a combined day and evening enrollment of nearly 2500 students. We have a new campus of 180 acres, plans for construction of four new class-room buildings, a heating plant, a new stadium which is partially completed, a new memorial entrance-way donated by the Ogden Rotary club and there are still numerous signs of impending growth on the horizon. Old alumns might be inclined to feel that this isnt the same school that they knew. Well, in many respects it isnt. Junior is finally coming of age. His physical being is undergoing change but his spiritual side is little changed from the same spirit that existed in 1941 . . . 1933 . 1924 ... or even 1890. I am certain that Weber students are still as friendly as ever. Our Weber Family is still intact and our faculty members teach the same principles of honor and enlightenment that have made Weber a great institution to attend since 1889. Sincerely, Henry A. Dixon, President. 1941 - By Betty Bond The year of Pearl Harbor, 1941, Weber College had the same healthy interests, organizations and activities as the present Weber college. Although there were about 1200 in the student body the female was still predominate. Happy is the man who can smile in the face of six- to-one odds. The mind of the student was in the same state of confusion as at the present although patriotism ran high, the question was still there should I join the service or should I wait until they draft me Before the school year was completed, most of the male population had conditioned themselves to the rim outlook of the future the 1943 By Roy Gibson 1941 and 1942 were years of unconcern at Weber College for our class. The war had started but young collegiate minds hadnt yet found time to absorb the impact of any major change. There was a slim blonde in English I who needed a wink every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. English II, Section C, had two smiling, freckled redheads to warm the cold, sleepy hour between footnotes through January, February and March. There was a chubby brunette in the Spring English III section who wrote notes and passed them across the room to tell everybody what she had learned in her marriage and the family class. Faculty Reminders Friday morning at eleven was always a little uncomfortable. The president and the faculty frequently found enough assembly time to make the student body squirm with unwanted worry over the situation in the Pacific and Europe. But even those moments had their satisfactions. Every student remembered the heroes who came back to say hello to the family. Some of them came only from Fresno, California, but they were heroes just as much as the dead for whom they had sung Purple and White, but whom they had never seen. 1943 Change Year 1943 was not the same at all. These minor discomforts increased their intensity when classmates were drafted one by one. Friends started to join the reserve. The girls looked frightened but if you were a reserve they winked at you a little more often. Early in the year the reserves left for basic training. All the rest were drafted soon, and by graduation day the campus might have been a school for girls. The Naval Reserves moved in, but it wasnt the same. The girls had their idols and their loves, and the letters written over Biology I microscopes were addressed to some distant, unknown land, never mentioned in the geography text, called A.P.O. sacrifices they were to make to help bring to a close the days of war and corruption. The styles of both male and female were very extreme for the males the good old cords were in full swing the dirtier they were, the more in fashion they were. A washing was something out of the question. The collegiate saddle shoes for men were just coming into their own. As for the women, the skirts were becoming shorter and shorter scarcity of material you know. Before the trend came to a stand-still the skirts were well above the knee, and the hair was getting longer and longer. 1944 By Shirley Decker It is difficult for me to tell of Weber College as she was in our year. When I write, I want to write of her as I know her, and the difference is not Weber college. There is a mood that will always be Weber it is not in her buildings her students, her faculty. It is a quiet something. It is the good and peaceful feeling of a shelter. A Small Year Our year was not a big year. Because of the war, our activities were cut almost as much as our number. But I believe that because of the war, we learned to know and enjoy Weber better than any other student body. A War Mood The war created a mood of its own. It was excitement, a feeling of things that are ending, a lonely feeling. This mood taught us to laugh harder, cry harder, and try harder. One day became a pretty important thing. One school year of those days is a good remembrance, Weber college is a good thing to know. 1952 By Dick Richards Whether 1941 or 1951, there is little difference as far as the college student is concerned. I admit that a lot has happened to the world in the last ten years, for example a world war has been fought and won. When all fighting had stopped many of us thought a permanent peace had been established and would be maintained. Now, although there has been no formal declaration of war, the world is definitely not living in a time of peace and security. The world is again facing a time of uncertainty as it did just ten years ago. Now the same desires, expectations and plans for the future that were prevalent in the college students ten years ago are our. We both want the same things out of life freedom, peace, security. I doubt that we are different from anyone else. Same Problems This is only part of the picture. There are still the same problems, feeling of emptiness, the same sense of uselessness in education. It is difficult to explain exactly how the student feels when he knows that possibly any day his hopes and his plans for the future may be shattered. Naturally he is somewhat depressed and may get the feeling, Ah, whats the use anyway Maybe we have the wrong attitude, maybe our feelings arent justified, but who is there to tell us We know what we want from life and we can see the possibilities of never getting it. Dont get me wrong. We dont feel bitter. We realize as much as anyone else that it is because of America and our democratic way 1953 By Jerry Davis (Freshman) Like Columbus, the Freshman enters college faced with a new world open to him, to conquer He smiles, laughs, and sometimes crys over the initiations, the rush parties, and the lessons. However, he rarely smiles as the well-padded wallet becomes so quickly bared, and the thoughts and oftentimes callouses remain from the summers hard work, but the money seldom lingers on But amid all the mixed emotions of a freshman, between sophomores taunting, teachers wild cries, and work, work, work, the freshman still finds time to have his fun, do his lessons, succumb to the sophs orders, and meet new people, making lifelong friends. Weber College being little different from other colleges, has its long, time-honored traditions, and they slowly grind into the little ones ears, heart and mind. During the rush of later years, he will find time to think, and reminisce upon his past days at Weber college. His thoughts might go something like this Oh, what Id give to be going to college this morning Good old Weber Kids get all the fun. Seems only like yesterday, that I started Weber, and here Junior is trotting off, his green beanie on his head, his song in his heart, and happiness, complete happiness. That old saying back in 51, Youth is wonderful Its a shame kids have all of it is certainly true. Lucky kid Oh, for the good old days. I have to stay home, wash dishes, make beds, clean house What a life Oh, for the good ol days. That chemistry professor wasnt so bad, come to think of it. But that English teacher, gads What a man He thought we were bookworms or something I never will forget the time he of life that our hopes and dreams may become realities. If we lose this, we lose everything. We will give anything and everything to maintain what is now ours. We owe it to our forefathers, to ourselves and to our posterity. Ten Years Ago Ten years ago they faced this same problem, and they solved it. We can do the same. Weve got to, because it is only in a country such as ours that a common man can have plans for his future. Technically, we are in the same position as any other American. NONE of us can make individual plans until we have guaranteed ourselves peace and security. When our democratic way of life is again secure, we will have evry right, privilege and opportunity the American Way offers its people. To every Alumni member with us today, we of the present sophomore class wish to express our appreciation for the fine way you fought the war and still gained an education at Weber.