by Kristalyn Patzkowski
Just like at other high schools, fall is the busiest time of the year at Reedley High School, with football games, rallies, and band performances. And at all of these gathering, there is one thing you are sure to find — school spirit! In fact, our Pirate pride is what gives so many students the motivation to be involved with school activities.
Yet, with all of this cheer going around our campus, there seems to be one thing missing — a mascot. I mean, unless you frequently go into Activities Director Chrisann Boone’s classroom, you probably wouldn’t realize that there is a Pirate mascot on campus. However, after years of faithfully cheering on his fellow comrades, Pirate Pete now deserves a new appearance as his old appearance is rather worn.
Old Mascot
In preparation for the spring season, Ms. Boone and the student body council have decided to raise money for a new and improved mascot. To get an idea of how the money is going to be raised, I approached Ms. Boone and Student Council member Kimberly Reyes for some answers. Here’s what the two had to say:
Kristalyn: Ms. Boone, can you give me a general idea of how the fundraising is taking place?
Ms. Boone: The first aspect of our fundraising is the class competition. Each class has decorated cardboard boxes with their designated color: the freshmen had orange, sophomores had yellow, juniors had lime green, and seniors had teal. On Wednesday, at lunch, the class officers went around the campus asking students for coin donations. The class who collects the most pennies will win extra class points.
Our second method was getting the staff and faculty members involved. After school on Wednesday, a few leadership students and student council members walked to each of the different departments. Again, these students asked for donations, this time from the adults. There were some incentives though. If they donated a dollar, they could receive either a pencil or a folder, and if they donated two dollars they would receive a water bottle. For every five dollars they donated, they could choose between a planner and a seat cushion!
Our third plan hasn’t been fully worked out yet. But the idea is that a local hairstylist will donate his time to cut hair at our school. All of the proceeds will go to raising money for Petey.
Kristalyn: Those are all really good ideas, but how does one get involved if they do not attend RHS or know anyone who does?
Kimberly: Recently, some student council members went downtown to post flyers. We hung the flyers up in all the shops that would allow us to. On those flyers is information about how and where to donate the money.
Kristalyn: So what are the goals for the fundraising?
Kimberly: We hope to have enough money to buy the mascot in time for basketball season.
Kristalyn: Roughly how much money are you trying to raise for a new Pirate mascot?
Kimberly: The mascot that we’re looking at is between two thousand and three thousand dollars.
Kristalyn: Do you know who is going to be the new mascot?
Kimberly: Although we don’t know for certain who will be our mascot, we have done try-outs in the past. And we do have a current list of people who are interested in being the mascot.
Kristalyn: Over all, what do you think the effect of getting a new mascot will be on the rest of the school?
Kimberley: I think the school spirit will really rise. After all, it’s been about five years since this school had a mascot. By now some students don’t know that we have a mascot on campus. It’s all a huge mystery. Who is the mascot? I think by introducing a new mascot, some students will realize there are people who still care about the school. Maybe they’ll even want to get more involved with extracurricular activities here at Reedley High School!
Kristalyn: Thank you both for taking some of your time to answer my questions.
Next I quickly went around to some of my leadership classmates to ask them how they felt about the school raising money for a new mascot. Here are their responses.
Kellie Lowe: It’s good, because Petey really does need a new face. Just look at him!
Alexis Becerra: I’m excited to go out and raise money!
Allison Mackie: It is practically necessary for any school to have a good mascot, and having a new mascot will definitely help our school’s spirit.
Jared Hirata: The new mascot will bring more school spirit, but I like that we have made the fundraising into a contest. It creates an incentive for students to donate their own money.
Thanks again to everyone who answered my questions! I’m sure we’ll raise the money for Pirate Pete in no time! If you would like to help RHS raise money for the new mascot, you can contact Ms. Boone at 559-305-7100 extension 2460.
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