Human beings, especially the younger ones, are great mimics. The only reason we have in our daily life such phrases as “being in style,” “keeping up with the Joneses,” “bobby-soxers” and others is because people continue to imitate each other.

It is said that the great philosopher Plato was stoop-shouldered and that one-half of his students walked that way. It is reasonably certain that each of you students has in his neighborhood a small boy or girl who says, “Boy, when I get big and in high school I’m going to be like ________.”

We know that Babe Ruth had thousands of followers and Max Hooper had hundreds. You Polo Community High School ball players had your little faithfuls who would come up to the scorers’ bench after a game and ask, “How many did Tom, Bill, Bert or George make.” You are a most unusual individual if you don’t have at least one or two youngsters who are wondering or asking about what you are doing.

Now where does that leave you? It seems to me that leaves each of you saddled with a lot of responsibility for the ideals and attitudes of PCHS and Polo. The sportsmanship, fair play, courtesy and consideration of others that you show today becomes the “style” for tomorrow. If you take pride in PCHS, yourself and your actions this month and this year, then that becomes the precedent for next month and next year.

You may not like to study physics or chemistry but here is one job you can do without “studying,” and it can be one of the best jobs you will ever do.

This was written March 30, 1950. It started with a poem that was in last week and was written by my father, Mr. O. Glenn Isley, as a teacher editorial in the PO-CO-DOTS column in the Tri-County Press. We came to Polo in 1938 and my father was the new science teacher for Polo. He taught biology, physics and chemistry. He left Polo around 1957 to teach in Maywood at Proviso East High School. He only taught chemistry at Proviso. He ended up teaching 40 years. I do not believe there was a student who did not like him. They talked about O.G. for many years.

In Maywood one day the principal came to him and said, “We have a group of students that cannot pass any science. What do you suggest?” My father said, “Give them to me and I will write a course called “kitchen chemistry.” They loved it and the problem was solved.

Recently with the passing of Dick Unger of the Class of 1950, I watched a video done of him by Grand Valley State University about his Air Force career. During the video he said that he left the Air Force and went to Midland, Michigan.

He decided to go to college to teach and he wondered what he would study. He commented that he had a biology teacher that he really liked and he decided to teach biology. This is exactly what he taught for a number of years. I told my kids that it was their grandfather who influenced Dick to be a biology teacher. My father would have been so very pleased.

• Betty Obendorf is a retired teacher and volunteer for the Polo Historical Society.