97 years ago, HB Plant High School came to life, and along with it Pep O’ Plant was born.
In 1927 Plant High School built “The Shop”: the Mechanical Arts Department and the Print Shop where Pep O’ Plants paper was printed. The Shop was found at the back right of the school, a massive room that was cut into 3 separate rooms after a massive renovation in the 1970s. In 2024 The Shop is now rooms 156, 157, and the ISS room. Both 156 and 157 teach reading remembering the history of the paper that used to live in those rooms.
When Pep O’ Plant first came out with the paper you had to pay a subscription fee, one year was 75 cents and one semester was 40 cents. Students would compete to subscribe 100 percent; Mrs. Hough’s homeroom in 116 was the first to subscribe, and the history is still there in 2024. The first paper came out on October 4th, 1927, later writing in the 1929 edition “What’s Wrong with the Pep O’ Plant?” explaining how many complaints they heard from members of the student body. Students would complain how the paper is not big enough, claiming “The Red and Black has an eight-page paper every Friday because they give out some 1,000 papers through subscription and the other 200 invariably pay a nickel for their copy.” The newspaper had to print about 9,600 papers front and back every Friday, no wonder the paper wasn’t that big. The 1929 student body also complained about not having enough jokes in the paper, the newspaper wrote back saying “The Pep O’ Plant is not a joke magazine” and if the students wanted a bigger paper, as well jokes then they needed 100 percent subscription.
Recently, Pep O’ Plant put their 2024 newspaper in the HB Plant Yearbook as an insert to get more views. During the school year the 2024 Pep O’ Plant posts daily on phsnews.com; users can go through the site look at earlier and current articles able to comment. The newspaper advertises its posts on forms on social media to get views on its site. The Pep O’ Plant is excited to see students’ reactions to the first year of the newspaper being published in the HB Plant Yearbook.
