Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Looking Back: Freshman Initiation At DHS


Dorchester High School freshman class, 1946-47 school year.

To any high school freshman who may be reading this, you might think you have it rough right now. After all, you've endured months of new routines, new classes, a faster pace of life, and those mean upperclassmen.  

A freshman's life can be tough.

But here's a reminder that you don't have it so bad, at least compared to the Dorchester High School freshmen who came decades before.

We searched through the old yearbooks in our history vault and found this excerpt written by the DHS Class of 1947.  

Read it with a smile on your face.

DHS Freshman Initiation

When we, the seniors of 1947, were mere freshmen, we were subjected to the trickery and pranks of the seniors of 1943 in the form of Freshman Initiation.  

After preparing us for weeks in advance by telling us weird tales of the fate that awaited us on our initiation, the seniors finally announced the day.  We were instructed to wear all our clothes backwards, our hair uncombed or unbraided. The girls could wear no makeup and the boys were forced to wear makeup, with ribbons in their hair and donning aprons.  

At school, we were expected to salute the seniors and carry their books from class to class. The seniors lined us up in front of the student body and painted green "F's" on our foreheads.

In the evening, the seniors made us do humorous tasks. Some of us had to measure the stage with wieners, while others were forced to drink milk from baby bottles or throw tomatoes at one another.  

At the end of the night, ice cream was served to everyone.

The Class of 1947 got the chance to show their senior power on September 27, 1946. When we initiated the freshmen class, they were ordered to come to school dressed in the fashion of Mother Goose characters. Every hour, they were to bow down and say a prayer suitable to the occasion.  

At noon, the seniors marched the freshmen through main street. In the evening, a final ceremony was held with various stunts played on the freshmen. A watermelon feed followed the activities.


7 comments:

  1. I am not sure, but I think the class of 74 was the last to go through this. All in all, it was a good time..............the best part was the trip out into the country where they dropped us off to walk back to Dorchester. I knew most of the county roads and convinced the guys that took us out, that we were a couple miles away from Wilber. They dropped us off about two miles south of town. Little did they know we turned the tables on them.

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    1. It was pretty innocent fun compared to the initiation hazing that takes place in today's society. The worst part for me was eating the dried bugs. To this day, I still can't eat them!!

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  2. OH the fun that was had back in the day. Unfortunately by the standards set forth today, this would be a form of bullying. Even though it was all in fun, I'm sure someone would take it too far.

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  3. Lawyers + life's losers = end of a lot of fun traditions

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  4. ........................now you just cry ........................... everyone gets a+ ...................... everyone wins ........................... yay .............................

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  5. The last freshmen class to be initiated was the Class of 1975. They were also the last class to have a senior sneak trip. This is from a member of the Class of 1976.

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    1. I was class of 98 senior skip day still existed

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