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One of the most exciting days of my high school career was the day the Packromak arrived.  The teachers did not like it but the students sure did.  It would distract the students from their classes because they would end up signing the annual during their classes and I do not blame the teachers for that.  And we would!

The Packromak was our yearbook and it had pictures of clubs, athletic teams, faculty and students.  Some of us have all the yearbooks from grade nine through twelve even today.  It was that important.   Events such as pep rallies, athletic games, band and our favorite teachers were in the Packromak.  I have heard that Libby Hodges Watson and others were responsible for giving it the name Packromak which is named for the Pam Pack, our mascot.

It would come with your name printed on the front and with a cover if you paid to have it done.  Everyone dressed up the day annual pictures were taken and freshmen through seniors could be in the Packromak if they were in a club or just seen by a reporter doing something crazy.  We all wanted our picture in the annual and not to wait till our senior year.  Seniors had taken up much of the pictures with senior superlatives and senior pictures with all they had been involved in through their freshman year until their senior year.

 We all wanted autographs from other classmates and if you were lucky, maybe you could get a senior to sign your book. Some saved pages to have either your girlfriend or boyfriend carry it home and write something in your Packromak.  Class time was an easy opportunity to do so and that is why teachers did not like it.  The other good time was at lunch and the lunchroom would be covered with Packromaks.  Mrs. Hill did not mind if the lunchroom staff could clean the tables off before we began our signing.  You wanted everyone to sign your yearbook and the more the merrier.  Some autographed it on their picture and students would sign it in the back where there were extra pages for signatures as long as they did not sign it on a page reserved for your girlfriend or boyfriend.  It was kept a secret from others!

I later found out the way it should be handled and did not take away from class time.  We had an annual signing period that was the last period of the day once annuals arrived.  It took the place of signing them in class and would not allow yearbooks to be signed in class or either you lost the right to your annual.  Lunchtime was fine and any time before or after school was appropriate.

So, if you young students get your annuals this year, do not take up a teacher’s time and please sign your Packromak before school or during lunchtime but not during class.

They were the best of times with the best of friends and in the best of places, Washington, N.C.!  The Original Washington!