Oak Harbor High School seniors made the Student Union Building rain term papers Thursday, flinging the contents of hundreds of three-ring binders into the air and sometimes at each other.

It’s part of an annual tradition called the Paper Toss.

The final bell of the day was the signal to let loose. The amassed students hooted and hollered and counted down as Principal Dwight Lundstrom reminded them via microphone to “WAIT” until the bell buzzed. A few crumpled assignments zinged back and forth anyway.

Teachers and other students formed a ring on the upper floor of the Student Union Building, their cell phone cameras trained on the seniors below.

When the bell finally sounded, the graduating seniors hurled, flung and chucked so many papers they were temporarily lost in a whiteout of history essays and algebra worksheets.

Some gleefully hugged each other. Others rolled around and wrestled in the snowfall of paper.

Then the principal made the juniors clean up.

“They waited until the bell this year,” the principal said. “There’s always premature paper tossers.”

It’s not clear when the tradition began but it’s at least as old as the high school building, which opened in 1974.

Sally Jacobs, a retired school staff member, told the Whidbey News-Times in 2014 that former principal Sid Parker wanted to keep seniors from dumping their papers in places they shouldn’t. So, Parker said seniors could toss them in Parker Hall.

After the school’s remodel, the students let loose their reams of work in the Student Union Building.

More than 350 Oak Harbor students are scheduled to graduate at 6 p.m. Monday.

“It feels good to just leave it behind me,” said senior Caleb Peek, 18. “I’m moving on to a new part of my life.”

Graduation

Graduation for Oak Harbor High School seniors is set for 6 p.m. Monday, June 13 at the high school’s stadium. The gates open at 4:45 p.m.