On January 5, 1917, two members of the Class of 1919-- Henson W. Faris and De Witt C. (Bud) Scott—composed and signed a document recording their hopes for their lives fifteen years in the future. The two used the same categories—Wealth, Residence, Occupation, and Family. As might have been expected, what they hoped to achieve differed considerably (Faris saw himself as a lecturer, Scott a dentist), particularly in the case of wealth for which each had a precise figure (Faris aiming for $18,640, Scott for a mere $1,586.62). At the time, Pomona tuition was $35, plus $2 for every course hour.
The January date of this joint manifesto suggests New Year's resolutions, but there is no indication of what prompted the two young men, at the mid-point in their junior year, to commit in writing to long-term goals. Remembering what was going on in the wider world at the time, however, one can speculate.
Although the U.S. had not entered World War I in January of 1917, the news from abroad, including accounts of appalling battlefield losses, must have been profoundly unsettling. Already in 1916, a military course had been approved at Pomona in response to President Woodrow Wilson's “Preparedness” program, and after the April 4, 1917 declaration of war on Germany, male students were assigned to military companies on campus, conducting drills with outdated muskets; the Selective Service Act was passed the same month, confirming students' fears. Faris's and Scott's alumni records give us little insight into the minds of these two young men, but it is difficult to believe that their desire to look ahead and to set personal goals wasn't in some way prompted by the precarious state of the world in 1917.
We do know that Henson Faris later lived in Anaheim, California, married in 1921, and fathered a daughter the following year. His career included New York Life Insurance Co., Los Angeles, and, during WWII, the Civilian Personnel department of the Mira Loma Quartermaster Depot. He died in 1953. Bud Scott married a fellow Pomona student. A district manager for Pacific Gas and Electric, he later turned to ranching in the San Joaquin Valley. He died in 1957.