Milford chronicle., 1932-09-23
DELAWARE HIGH SCHOOL
AUTHOR REWARDED BY
NEW YORK INSTITUTE

NEW YORK INSTITUTE
A Delaware high school girl, Mar
garet F. Wheatley, of the Seaford
High School, has just been reward
ed by Cleanliness Institute of New
York for services in promoting
cleanliness through her school pa
per- The right to use her published
contribution has been purchased by
the Institute, which devotes itself
to raising standards of cleanliness
throughout the country.
For the purpose of collecting the
best student expressions on this
subject the Institute last February
invited all the high school publica-
tions of the United States to sub
nit contributions appearing in their
pages during the last school semes-
ter. Entries came from every state
! in the Union and in almost every
| form of literature and art. They in
! cluded editorials, essays, fiction,
verse, cartoons and photographs.
Twenty-Five were adjudged most
suitable for the Institutes use and
the authors of these received checks
through their school principals at
the opening of the school year. Ten
of the successful young writer's and
artists are boys and fifteen are girls.
Miss Wheatleys contribution fol-
lows:
Getting SIean At S. H. S.
By Margaret Frances Wheatley,
Seaford High School, Seaford,
Delaware
This year, under the leadership of
our Director of Health Education,
our school started a war against
uncleanliness. To show the need of
cleanliness in, our school it was
found that a large number of our
pupils visited the cafeteria with
dirty hands. Each member of the |
Girls Biology Glass visited the Law
atOry for a period of three minutes. |
While there, 343 pupils visited the
washroom. OF this number 21S did |
not wash their hands after going to |
the toilet. This means that 81 per
cent returned to the class room with
dirty hands. Aside from these stark
facts no time was allotted in our
school program for handwashing; |
hot water was not available; there
was no soap dispensers; there was
a large percentage of absentees due
to communicable diseases.
To correct all these things, the
teachers and Director of
Health Education, Miss Gates, be-
gan the battle against uncleanliness.
The need of cleanliness was evident
but-the question, "How can we
have effective hand-washing in our
school when we have no hot wa
ter" Logically the answer would be
GO to the Superintendent, Mr..
Let him ask the Board
Of Education" But the Board of Ed
lcation has so many bills to meet;
hen, too, our building is only three
years old and should have had hot
water installed then. However, {
when the facts above mentioned {
we're presented to the Board they 1
soon agreed that it was vitality nee {
,ssary that something be done
lbOut the situation. The list of abb I
entees from communicable dis s
'ases was growing larger So 10 {
,eep up 0lc go96 utlendas c. record, |
hey decided that another bill for {
uch a purpose would not prove at /
IL Objectionable.
So thanks to our School Board we I
ave installed hot water in our t
chOol. Too, we have a sufficient g
upply of paper towels and liquid 5
oap which is replenished twice e
ally. And now each grade has it's n
wn allotted time for handwashing. C
wen though this period is less than
We minutes in length, it is suffi- C
lent. A group of twelve seventh b
rade health students go into the |,
'ashroOms at this time--6 boys and r
girls. There are three pupils to n
ach lavatory; each has his own C
uties to perform. They supervise il
he children as they file i'll, and are il
graded on this work. To il
lem is given the responsibility for
lie effectiveness of the cleanliness Il
rOgram. With little or no confus- W
n grade marches in, each pupil 81
Lkes his turn, and then goes b
uetly out. rC
Attractive posters on cleanliness
e placed in the lavatories. til
So we have accomplished, or at is
asst are well on the way to accom- Q;
ish, all the detectives we set out re
reach. In doing this there is be- &C
g inculcated into everyone the m
lbit, the knowledge and the prop fiji
attitude toward cleanliness. 81
The pupils of our school practice as
eanliness in order to protect their ed
alth. Clean hands will make new
quaintances for they indicate self nc
spect, character, confidence and W;
ace, and give us an understanding of
the Importance of cleanliness in ha