A quarter of a century ago an American teacher came to Cuba with a vision, a vision of a school centered around individual students and their unique needs, This dream grew into a reality, but a reality where ideals always dominated practical details and the limitations of physical conditions. His was a dream of small classes that made possible close association and friendly relationships between pupils and teachers; of a democratic spirit which made education a mutual sharing of the growth of pupils and teachers; of the development of the only true discipline, that which emanates from within the student himself. It was his desire to create an environment that would encourage students to think for themselves, to develop a capacity for self-evaluation. This teacher was more interests in the kind of mental habits students formed and the quality of trained minds they would have when they were twenty-five or forty than he was in their monthly grades. He was more concerned about the characters they would have as men or women than about their childish pranks of the present. Himself a man of wide culture, he wished to give students not an encyclopedic knowledge but culture in the true sense of deep appreciation for, and real enjoyment of, serious literature, music, and art. Believing profoundly in the worth of individual which is the basis of democracy, he saw that children could be prepared to live as citizens in a democracy only if they were trained first to accept the responsibility for themselves and their own actions. He wished to establish a school where teachers directed students as friends and exchanged ideas with them on a democratic basis. At the same time he appreciated the importance of developing in youth a consciousness of their obligations to their country ad a desire to help realize its potentialities.

With three teachers and three pupils, be began to mold this vision into a reality. Slowly the school grew. A bi-lingual commercial department was added to the regular American primary, junior high, and high school. The came the Bachillerato and finally the kindergarten. One building after another was annexed until today the plant includes eight buildings. The faculty of three increase to forty. As we look back over the twenty-five years, we see that Ruston has always supported and fostered the best of Cuban traditions an aided in the development of Cuba. One of the pioneers in co-education in Cuba, the school has been very much interested in helping girls to see their responsibilities. It has always encouraged girls to continue their education in order to develop their capacities for serving their country. Ruston is proud to have as alumnae one of Cu a's first successful women architects and one of the first women to study chemical engineering.

This silver anniversary is, first of all, a tribute to you, Mr. Ruston, a tribute to your vision which has become a vital reality.

This anniversary has a double significance, however. Janus-like we look both to the past and to the future. We still have dreams. unfulfilled dreams, - dreams of a new building, well adapted to the multiple needs of our varied program, dreams of establishing a foundation which will make permanent the educational system to which Mr, Ruston has given the best years of his life. The chief vision to which our work will be dedicated will be the continued realization of the old ideals. Never before has there been so urgent a need for the Pan-American and international understanding and cooperation which Ruston has sought to develop. The political, social, and economic trends towards bureaucracy, and the worship of groups, make it increasingly important to focus attention upon the individual, his significance, an the quality. of his life.

As we face this future, Ruston shall strive to make the next twenty-five years as richly rewarding in the growth of individuals as has been the past quarter of a century.