Calvin Coolidge, at his graduation, May 23, 1890.
Calvin graduates with a class of five boys and four girls. “Going to the Academy meant a complete break with the past and entering a new and untried field, larger and more alluring than the past, among unknown scenes and unknown people.” Coolidge, in his diary, discussed his student life and struggle to do well at the academy. He credited George Sherman, his principal, and the principal’s assistant, Miss M. Belle Chellis, for the “inspiration and scholarly direction which they gave to my undergraduate days.” At graduation, Calvin delivered his speech, “Oratory in History.”
The Autobiography of Calvin Coolidge, p. 38.