Inspiring words School foundation honorees share life lessons with FHS seniors
Posted on Friday, October 10, 2008
BROOKE McNEELY Northwest Arkansas Times J. Alan Adams holds up his Fayetteville High School letter from 1951 Thursday during an assembly where this year’s Fayetteville Public Education Foundation Hall of Honor inductees talked to FHS seniors at the school’s auditorium. After graduating from Fayetteville in 1953, Adams went on to become a longtime professor of mechanical engineering at the U. S. Naval Academy, where he holds the rank of professor emeritus.
Fayetteville High School seniors heard some words of wisdom from the school district's 2008 Hall of Honor inductees during a series of assemblies Thursday morning in the FHS auditorium.
Honorees J. Alan Adams, Larry Bittle and Oma Blackwell addressed the students prior to the formal Hall of Honor induction banquet Thursday at the Fayetteville Town Center.
Each year, the Fayetteville Public Education Foundation selects three to four individuals to induct into the Hall of Honor because of their contributions or affiliations with the district.
"Many of your attitudes and accomplishments will be based on a foundation that began here," Adams said.
For his return to FHS, Adams brought along four copies of his high school report cards. He said he had to admit he once made a D, in "solid geometry," but he would later go on to write textbooks about geometry.
"Just because you get a bad grade, don't let it stop you," he said.
"Just because we make a poor choice today doesn't mean we can't have a better one tomorrow," Bittle said later during his speech.
Adams was recognized as a successful graduate of FHS. He was born in Fayetteville, attended Wa shington E lementary School and is a 1953 graduate of FHS.
Adams went on to become a longtime professor of mechanical engineering at the U. S. Naval Academy, where he holds the rank of professor emeritus.
Bittle, an insurance agent who has lived in Fayetteville since 1970, was recognized for his contributions as a district volunteer over the years.
He encouraged the students to be progressive with moving forward and finding ways to contribute to the community.
"Don't look back, give back," he said. "Forgive yourself and others for poor choices when they are made."
In the 1990 s, Bittle served as chairman for two successful millage campaigns. One was to construct the Holcomb and Vandergriff elementary schools, and the other was to add a mill dedicated to technology.
He noted, however, that one of his first committees in the mid-1980 s developed an ambitious millage proposal which included a new high school.
"Sound familiar ? "he said.
The bond issue failed, but the committee regrouped and developed a new plan that provided a direction to the district for years to come.
"Here was a group that did not look back, but instead, gave back," he said. "They gave back by developing a new plan."
Blackwell is a retired educator for the district, most noted for her 20 years working as principal of Root Elementary School until she retired in 2001.
"For each of you in the audience who went to Root, I want you to know you own a piece of my heart," she said.
During her time at Root, she was named Principal of the Year in 1986 by the South Central Association of Elementary School Principals and honored as a Distinguished Principal of the Year at a Washington, D. C., ceremony.
Blackwell spent much of her speech discussing some of the differences in times from when she attended school in the 1940 s and 1950 s in Pueblo, Colo.
She recalled penmanship being "a serious deal "when she was in elementary school and junior high and during World War II nearly all of the school employees were women because men were fighting in the war or working in civil service professions.
At the high school, girls had to wear dresses or skirts, she added.
Adams is the son of Ray Adams, a former school board member after whom the district's administration building is named. His senior year was the first year Fayetteville's current high school opened, and because seniors walked in alphabetical order for the graduation assembly, he was the first student to graduate. "I received the first diploma from this school ever," he said.
Since he lives in Maryland, Adams was the only honoree who didn't make it to the summer luncheon where the 2008 inductees were announced. He said he was honored to be selected because he is a believer in public schools and what they can do to shape children's futures. "I was happy to have a chance to be recognized by a public school system," he said.
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