Graduation Night -- June 12, 1954
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Crowd Packs Auditorium As 255 SCHS Graduates Get Diplomas

The headline above and news article below were published in the Sunday, June 13, 1954, edition of the Santa Cruz Sentinel.

An overflow crowd packed the civic auditorium last night to see 255 young men and women get their diplomas from Santa Cruz High School and to hear Dr. Arthur F. Corey call for a rebirth of "the faith of our fathers."
"This history of our country is an epic in faith," Dr. Corey, executive secretary of the California Teachers Association, asserted. "This country has been built by men who believe in something and believe in it strongly enough to act on it."
Members of the Class of '54, the speaker declared, believe as the founding fathers did in the "sanctity and dignity of the individual."
Maintaining that "man is the measure of the nation's greatness," he said it would be up to those in the graduating class to strive for research and education progress so no one will live in or die because of ignorance.
Contrasting communism with democracy, Dr. Corey pointed out that Americans have more material goods, more security and more individual freedom than any other people of the world.
The United States, he said, is based on foundations of faith in the individual, the family, destiny of our country and God.
"It is time the American people should again learn to pray in spirit and in truth," he asserted. "The destiny of humanity is largely in our hands, and even more in the hands of our young people graduating here tonight," he concluded.
City Schools Superintendent Homer H. Cornick, assisted by Class President Sharon McCown, gave the graduates their diplomas before the Class of '54 sang the alma mater to close the program.
Kathy Work, daughter of Mrs. Geraldine Work, 127 Green Street, was given the Rotary Club Scholarship.
Other scholarships were awarded to these top students in the graduating class:
Pat Banach, UC Alumni Association; Altha Saffeels, decorative arts and Women's Exchange; Nancy Herbert, Native Daughters of the Golden West; Carolyn Hutchings, PEO (Elks Lodge), and PTA Scholarship; Joan and Jean Goodwin, each Clyde Linscott Memorial Scholarship; Ted Netoff, a mother's memorial scholarship for her son who died in World War II.
Pat Krotser, Girls League; Val Sherbourne, Girls Honor Society; Kenneth Dye, Harvey Levine Memorial Scholarship; Barbara Tobey, Bank of America Achievement Award; Paul York, Sears Roebuck Foundation to attend Cal Poly at San Luis Obispo; Bob Cardiff, PTA's Elsa Cardiff Memorial Scholarship.
Class of 1954 Departmental Honor Students
This photo was published in the Santa Cruz Sentinel newspaper on Sunday, June 13, 1954, the morning after out Saturday night graduation. The caption reads:
"On the honor stage to take part in last night's commencement exercises for graduating Santa Cruz High School seniors held at the civic auditorium are students who were given honors by Principal Lee T. Sims for shining in their fields of endeavor."
Front row from left:
Nancy McMillan, physical education; Joan Goodwin, music; Bob Sakata, physical education; Pat Banach, valedictorian; Diana Ray, salutatorian and social studies; Phil Murphy, math; Jean Goodwin, music; and Nancy Herbert, English.
Back row:
Darlene Sanders, commercial; Ted Netoff, science; Kathy Work, dramatic arts; Bill Nielson, agriculture; Carolyn Hutchings, foreign languages; Bob Wilson, vocational; and Altha Saffeels, art.
Class Funds Donated to Crippled Children's Fund
The Santa Cruz Sentinel also reported on Sunday, June 13, 1954, the 255 students in the Class of '54, who got their diplomas last night, took a vote on what to do with the balance of the money they raised in subscriptions and dances before their departure. The Senior Class Fund will, by the graduates' decision, go to the local Crippled Children's camp, according to Senior Class officers Leonard Klempnauer, president; Shirley Nunes, vice president; Sharon McCown, secretary, and Edella Eddy, treasurer."
Logo for 50th Reunion on Sept. 10-11-12, 2004
At left is the logo for the SCHS Class of 1954's 50th reunion, drawn by classmate Charlie Fritz of Alamo, Calif., who did the cartooning for the '54 Cardinal yearbook. The idea for using the caricature of a fightin' Cardinal for the logo originated from a similar drawing that was painted on the bass drum of the 1954 Pep Band, a small contingent of some of the best musicians in the school band.


Three-Day Class of '54 50th Reunion on Sept. 10-11-12, 2004 in Santa Cruz