Hadrosaurus foulkii's promotion to "New Jersey State Dinosaur"
began in 1988 at an elementary school in Haddon Township, a
small community of about 15,000, located in western New Jersey
east of Philadelphia. Strawbridge Elementary School teacher
Joyce Berry initiated a project that would teach her fourth
grade students about fossils as well as the New Jersey
legislative process. The idea wasn't as off-the-wall as some
thought at the time. Many states had already named official
state fossils and 1858's Hadrosaurus foulkii, the first nearly
complete dinosaur skeleton ever discovered, seemed a perfect
representation for New Jersey. Ms. Berry's and her fourth-
graders (97 students took part) lobbied intensely for
Hadrosaurus foulkii, only to have the state Senate ignore the
proposal in 1990 after unanimous approval by the New Jersey
Assembly (54-0). As 1991 rolled around, things started looking
up. By the end of May, 1991, the "Hadrosaurus bill," sponsored
by Assemblymen John A. Rocco and Thomas J. Shusted, had be