Chapter 24: Epilogue

That’s how the rest of the year went. Many of the kids, it turned out, enjoyed the nudity they experienced, and quite a few admitted that they had acquired a measure of exhibitionism. Many were surprised at how “natural” being nude felt—they said that they felt liberated or more open with other nude students, just as Roy had told Drew. And like Evelyn and Roy, there were a fair number of new friendships formed. Sherrill and Wilma did join a small group of GBH students to go on several naked shopping mall excursions, but they couldn’t convince Jennifer, or their boyfriends, to join them. Of course, Drew and Connor gave that activity an emphatic pass.

Vanquishing the OSA didn’t end the Program, of course. It still continued at the high school and by the spring term, only a third of the kids were getting naked for the Project. The Monday Program participation calls were still largely being ignored and most Program “resistors” were now brave enough to declare to the Program official—not Werthur; he had been replaced—that they were resisting. Thus the cries of “Reasonable Request” continued to be not heard in the halls at Glen Burnie High.

Gerberin’s and Werthur’s charges were reduced to disorderly conduct and they were given warnings not to engage in similar activities in the future. The enforcer Taser users from the classroom battle were charged with endangering a minor and their pending kidnapping charges were dropped, since they had no intention of taking anyone away from the school.

Drew’s soccer season continued with her dominating opposing teams with her defense and the Gophers reached the finals at State in their division, where they were defeated by a perennial powerhouse team in overtime, 2-1.

Connor did well on the swim team; indeed, his breast stroke set pool and conference records and he was a strong contributor to the Gophers coming in second in their conference.

Drew received many full-scholarship offers but she chose to stay local. She accepted the offer from the University of Maryland. Their soccer program used formations which complemented her playing style. And Connor’a swimming performances attracted several scholarship offers; he chose Maryland’s; the athletic staff was very interested in his self-taught athletic training and offered a partial swimming scholarship, supplemented with a needs-based scholarship to cover the rest of his attendance costs.

Jennifer, Sherrill, and Wilma all chose Maryland as well, as did a number of other core Project planners, so they were able to closely maintain their friendships.

The Project at GBHS lost a little momentum when the seniors graduated; Emma’s resort subsidy had ended and when school began the following fall, there were fewer strongly motivated students who cared to organize it. And Program resistors no longer needed the naked camouflaging support of their classmates—they simply refused to participate. Despite this, the Project had become a sort of tradition in the school and many students did continue to go nude for years after the first Project year and the school’s administration was careful to prevent the typical Program abuses which happened in other schools.