years. The school was not organized into classes and students did not officially graduate. Those planning to attend college studied until they felt they had prepared enough to pass a college entrance exam. Many Hebron students went on to Dartmouth, Harvard, Bowdoin, and Colby. The school began official commencement exercises in 1878. Commencement exercises would last all day, with dozens of speeches and music recitals. 1900s Around 1913, girls' registration at the school began declining. By this time, several hundred Maine girls were attending normal schools for teacher training, and they did not need a high school diploma to enter these schools. At the same time, free public schools were improving. In the spring of 1922, only 36 girls registered. After graduation that year Hebron Academy became a boys' school. When World War I arrived, at least three faculty men resigned to enter the war and several students enlisted. Many alumni also fought in the war. Harold T. Andrews (1914) died in the battle of Cambrai in 1917, and was the first Maine soldier to die in the war. A Portland post of the America Legion carries his name. Philip Frothingham (1915) was killed in an airplane accident in France and the Portland post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars bears his name. World War II had a far greater impact on the school. Twenty-eight students left school in 1943 to join the armed forces. In May of that year, the school closed and would remain closed until 1945. In 1969, applications began to decline. It was part of a trend common among independent boarding schools. In the early 1970s, Hebron returned to its roots by reopening its doors to girls and welcoming young people from the area to attend as day students. Sports and activities Hebron organized its first baseball game in 1862. Gould Academy, Bridgton Academy, Norway High School and Hebron Academy formed a county athletic league in 1890. Hebron held its first annual “Athletic Exhibition,” with the horizontal bar, parallel bars, Swedish horse, flying rings, and tumbling, in 1896. Hockey began in 1921 and Hebron was home to America's first covered school ice arena in 1925. Winter sports (ski, snowshoe rac, skating) in 1925, and swimming in 1930. In 1931, Hebron teams won state championships in football, cross-country, basketball, hockey, outdoor track, and baseball. Hebron held its first annual winter carnival in 1927. An Outing Club started