I am the agriculture teacher at a small rural school in Arkansas, and our school recently underwent a consolidation involving three schools into one school district.
Bringing three separate schools together and keeping everyone happy presented many challenges.
One of the biggest hurdles to get over was our sports.
You’re probably wondering at this point what this has to do with your school and why someone from a small, rural school in Arkansas is submitting a letter to your paper.
Well, it’s like this: Each school had to give up its mascot. This was not easy, but we told the students that they would be allowed to pick the new mascot and school colors themselves.
With much debate, the students finally made their decision.
We were going to be the Two Rivers Gators, and yes, our colors were blue and orange.
Finally, there was a decision made that helped pull our separate schools together. The whole community seemed to come together on this.
The fundraisers began immediately. We had to raise a lot of money to buy new uniforms for all of our teams. We had bake sales, car washes, school dances—you name it, we tried it.
With much work, we finally made it. The finishing touch was the gator head in our school gym.
We were all very excited until we received a letter from your school: violation of mascot copyright.
