After attending the demonstrations at the amphitheater, students were presented with 8"x10" certificates from the Clarke School. The certificates were signed by C. M. Lukens, principal and Pulte professor of anatomy, Joseph Henry Clarke, and C. M. Epply, lecturers and demonstrators. Following the second class Clarke was financially able to make the school a permanent institution of learning. The second class was organized April 24, 1882, at the Pulte Medical College with ten students. The school gained its first public recognition when a trade paper published the class material. The third class was organized June 6, 1882, with only six students. In addition, the fourth class, organized July 11, contained the same number of students, but it was conducted at Dr. Luken's office on Race Street. The fifth class, organized September 19, became the second largest class of that year with sixteen students. The sixth class was the last class of 1882 that was conducted in Cincinnati. It was organized November 7 with four students and was held at the Eclectic Medical College at Court and Plum Streets. To broaden the knowledge of students and to stimulate interest in the school, Professor Clarke and his colleagues traveled to three larger cities. The first stop was Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on November 22, 1882, where a class was held with fifteen students. It was held in a hallway over a drug store at 11th and Market Streets in Philadelphia. Following the Philadelphia adventure the school moved on to New York City, where, on December 1, 1882, the school encountered its largest class. It contained seventeen students, and the lectures were given in a society hall. As the year-end approached, the Clarke School of Embalming proceeded to conduct its last few classes of the year. One was in Boston on December 11, and the other was in New York City for a second time. The year of 1882 was prosperous. Having taught 106 students in four major cities, Mr. Clarke stated that "This ended our first year's effort to convince the people that embalming was a successful way of preserving the human dead." Coincidentally the year 1882 was also the founding year for the National Funeral Directors Association. As the Clarke School continued over the next few years, other schools began to develop. Their enrollments were boosted by various state laws that required licensing of embalmers. Schooling often consisted of a system of memorizing questions and model answers for licensing exams. The result was that many students were licensed without having proper knowledge.