Today marks 100 years of The Cub!

Jessica Ahart, Editor in Chief|January 31, 2021

Provided by BASH librarian, Mrs. Gramp

January 31, 1921 the front page of Volume 1, Issue 1 reviews the events of the Literary Society including scripture reading and recitations. Young men are encouraged to bring their best girl to the Bazaar and treat her to a plate of “chawclate ice cream.”

This year we celebrate the 100th year of the BASH Cub newspaper. Since the early 1900’s we have shared countless astounding stories and many times even published our own history. As for a little background, the very first paper to be published by the Boyertown High School goes so far back it’s even unknown the exact date, but it was in the 1800’s. By 1903, a new paper had come out called the “Red and Black” and a few years later another called “The Budget,” with Editor Robert G. Scott.

Boyertown School News

The official and continuously running newspaper through today, was first called the “Boyertown School News.” Starting back in 1921 it was published on paper and was lead by Allan Gilbert, the editor, and Samuel Lachman, the business manager. Much like the BASH Cub is today, back then the entire production of the paper was in the hands of the students, and they mostly covered the high school area’s news and events.

This is a copy of the Boyertown school newspaper from October 30th, 1930.

Awards

Over the years, students have worked diligently writing for The Cub and helped to get our school and its newspaper recognized. We’ve received quite a few impressive awards like the certificate of merit given to the student publications department in 1978, first place in the Columbia Scholastic Press Association contest in 1980, and a Keystone Place Rating in the annual Pennsylvania School Press Association contest in 1986. These are just a few of the top accolades our school newspaper has earned in its time, and today The Cub continues to strive for more SNO awards and highlight our students’ writing talents.

First place award given to the Cub on October 10th, 1980 for the Columbia Scholastic Press Association contest.

It’s amazing to see how much journalism and communication has changed over the past 100 years and evolved into what it is now in 2021. When Boyertown started its first newspaper, the students did it all on paper and didn’t have the resources we have today to get the word out. There was no social media to share it on, computers to type the articles into, and no digital printing. Former editors of the paper back then like Robert Scott and Allan Gilbert probably never would have imagined seeing our school newspaper as what it is today and or that they were the start of something that would continue on for a hundred years.

As the very first BASH newspaper stated 100 years ago today, “We hope to raise our paper from infancy to lusty manhood and then impart the germ of eternal life provided the classes that come after us keep up the good work.”