North Central High School - Northerner Yearbook (Indianapolis, IN)

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paper mac he magic Take 1 trailer, some chicken wire, wood, paste, flour, paper, and paint, add some class spirit, and a whole lot of fun and what do you come up with? That ' s right . . . it ' s float building time. But what really goes in to mak- ing a float 9 After two years of practice the seniors seemed to know the procedure well. Here is the way they suggest to do it. Step 1— DECIDE ON A THEME AND A PLACE TO BUILD THE FLOAT. These two things can prove to be very difficult for two reasons. 1 . It ' s hard to decide on a theme when everybody is screaming and yell- ing out their own ideas and 2. The parents of the person having the float must have a great deal of sympathy and patience. This por- tion of float building can take a very long time unless some authority is exercised. Step 2— GET A TRAILER TO PUT FLOAT ON. For this particular float the trailer came from New Palistine, Indiana. A party of seniors volunteered to go get it on a rainy, cold Sunday. The first thing they did was get lost. After struggling their way back home, they realized they had lost half of the trailer in the middle of 86th street. Now don ' t let this experience discourage all young, aspiring float builders, for this is not always the way it works. Step 3— GET WOOD TO BUILD THE BASE OF THE FLOAT. This phase of construction has never really seemed to pose a problem for float builders. The only real problem is deciding which lumber company to bor- row the wood from. Step 4— GIRL ' S CAN BUILD TOO (so they think!) At each work session, the guys always seemed to be doing the hammering and hard labor. The girl ' s would try to help but, their work wasn ' t quite as sturdy. Step 5— COVER THE WHOLE FLOAT WITH CHICKEN WIRE. This can be a sticky process espe- cially if the wire becomes tangled. Step 6— FIGURE OUT HOW TO MAKE MOVEABLE PARTS MOVE. This can be very difficult. It is sug- gested that someone is not papier mached inside the object as this can be very uncomfortable. Step 7— BUYING FLOUR. Pounds upon pounds of flour are required to papier mache all that is needed. A few pounds must be 22 — Floating Building

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Dig that wig 1 Mr. Sams shows some of his preacher ' s qualities during the faculty skit at Friday ' s homecoming pep session. Brenda Chambers battles her opponent in the annual wagon race; it ' s part of Homecoming 76. Did you see Lord ' s Leaping Lizards at the avant garde wagon race? Hey man, Mr. Sams was bizarre to the max in that crazy wig. 77 is the best! We ' re the class that beats the rest! Yeah 1 Rah 1 Seniors! Hail our Panthers hats off to thee. Quick. Somebody lean against the pole! Our float ' s gonna fall over! Aaaah! We got a touchdown! We got a touchdown 1 We got a touchdown! Congratulations, we had the best pep session in five years! These were the sights and sounds of Homecoming 76. All of North Central was involved in the activities, and if anyone missed them, he missed the best home- coming week ever. Why? Because, We ' ve got more! We ' ve got more! We ' ve got more! . . . SPIRIT! Homecoming — 21

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These seniors worked hard at building their float. Here they illustrate the steps to making a float as they are outlined below. Jim Cory, senior, adds the finishing touches to the panther. This years senior float had a panther with a moving arm on it. allowed for those playful people who just can ' t resist throwing the paste at each other or smearing it on their arms and legs. Step 8— DRYING PAPIER MACHE. Since papier mache must dry overnight before it can be painted and very often there is not time for it to dry overnight, the seniors found a blow dryer very helpful. It seemed to dry papier mache in less than half the time. Step 9— HAVING TOO MANY HELPERS The last night of float is always hectic. Too many people get in the way and nothing can be accom- plished with any speed at all. Step 10— PROTECTING THE FLOAT. The last night is not only for finish- ing the float, but look outs must be posted to be sure no surprise attacks are staged. During home- coming there are underground plots to destroy fellow float build- ers floats. The float has to be babysat with all night. Step 1 1— FINISHING THE FLOAT. The finishing touches are usually applied to the float about 30 sec- onds before the float is to leave for the parade. Sometimes floats are seen being worked on while on their way to the parade. A true float is never finished, it ' s just shown at a good stage in the game. Step 1 2— TAKING THE FLO AT TO PARADE. If the float is very tall and wobbly, low hanging obstacles have to be avoided or else the float will be wrecked. A convoy of cars usually accompany the float trailer. Step 13— STOPPING TRAFFIC SO THE CONVOY CAN STAY TOGETHER. A van is a good car to have along because it can be useful in holding up traffic so the whole group of cars can stay with the head float car. Step 14— PARADES OVER— WHAT NOW? Some parts on a float can be saved and there are always those sentimental girls who want a piece of the float for memories sake, but what happens to the rest of it? Well, here ' s where one last party can be molded into this job. A bonfire is a good place to dispose of the unsaveable parts. Step 15— PERSONAL AFTER EFFECTS. Paint applies well to hair and that favorite pair of jeans. It is very easy to tell who worked on the float and for one or two weeks after homecoming ends because of the funny shade of their hair. Well, there it is, 15 easy steps to building a float, it was fun. wasn ' t it? Floating Building — 23