Recalling the Exciting Finish and Huge Success to Andrew Warde High School's First Annual Student Council Paper Drive in 1973

The students and staff at Andrew Warde High School recognized the need to recycle and save our resources well over a generation ago. The first annual student council paper drive, which took place in the Spring of 1973, was a tremendous success!

For most homerooms it started only with a spare newspaper here or there thrown in a small pile. However, the seniors in Miss MacKenzie's homeroom, F-16, decided to try their utmost to win the paper drive and the free breakfast that went to the winning homeroom.

The very first day the contest began, the students of F-16 began bringing newspapers to school and were soon far ahead of the rest of the homerooms throughout the school. Midway through the contest, Miss MacKenzie's homeroom was in first place and Mrs. Daley's homeroom (B-17) was in second. Although B-17 had only one stack of newspapers to seven for F-16, the announcement spurred the juniors of B-17 and a few others, and the contest began to pick up speed.

Much time and energy went into collecting the newspapers. By the time the final deadline arrived, Mrs. Daley's juniors had, seemingly out of nowhere, stacked up piles and piles of newspapers claimed by many to be higher than what the seniors collected in F-16. It was too tight of a race for the judges to call, however, and a decision was ultimately made to eliminate homerooms which didn't collect enough newspapers.

After the student council judges tabulated the final results, it was found that Miss MacKenzie and her senior homeroom, pictured below, had won. It was a tremendous victory for the class which had never won a contest of any type in four years. The losing streak was over! The students stacked a total of 1,484 inches of paper, a height which was taller than twice that of the Andrew Warde High School flagpole and 500 inches more than the stacks collected by the juniors in B-17.

Several days later the papers were recycled by some hard-working student council members. All in all, the first annual school council newspaper drive was fun, exciting, helpful to ecology, and even made some money for a needy organization.

Paul

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