Long-time Rochester Memorial School mascot Bandit the Raccoon was reelected by a landslide on November 7 when students cast their vote in an election that could have changed the school’s mascot after about 40 years with the raccoon.
While adults were dodging political phone calls and television ads the weeks leading up to the November 4 election, students at RMS were busy rallying behind their choice for a new mascot, or campaigning to keep the incumbent in place through a school-wide persuasive essay writing contest for grades three through six.
RMS Principal Derek Medeiros said he and his administrative team had been trying to come up with ways to engage students in an activity that would get the entire school involved, and “rally up the troops,” so to speak.
“It was more of an idea to get the kids writing … and pumping up together,” said Medeiros.
Students submitted essays and the top picks for a new mascot emerged, offering the choice to jettison the raccoon in favor of a newcomer – the ram or the wolf. In the end, the raccoon received 274 votes, the wolf 182, and the ram 71.
The top essay winners were Delany Shaw, grade 6, and Julia Foye, grade 4, arguing in support of keeping the raccoon. Runners-up were Griffin Lawrence, grade 6, who wrote supporting the wolf, and Evan Smith, grade 6, who wrote his essay trying to persuade students to vote for the ram.
“The kids were very passionate about it,” said Medeiros. The students debated and a lot of research went into the endeavor.
Medeiros said he contacted retired teacher Jody Church, who designed the raccoon mascot logo back in the 1970s when students voted to elect Bandit the Raccoon as their school mascot, looking for some history behind Bandit’s creation.
On Thursday, November 6 and then on Friday, November 7 students participated in an actual election, complete with voting booths on loan from the Town and “I voted” stickers.
“Just the whole thing of bringing everybody together,” said Medeiros, was what made the project such a success.
By Jean Perry