@RightCoaster that’s a great update of a weekend coming off of midterms. Good for your son!
My d19 had a rough midterm week. She always stresses so much and the AP Lang midterm was a nightmare that had at least one other kid in tears and a few very frustrated. She was upset and sure she failed it. She had a good weekend though and medaled at Sci Oly regionals, then today found out that she didn’t fail the midterm and with the curve, did “ok”.
Unfortunately, she came home from school today with a sore throat and fever hopefully it’s just a virus she will recover from quickly.
@mom2twogirls thanks! That’s great getting a medal at Science Olympiad, those awards look great on an application and gives them something to talk about or write about. well done.
Also, maybe more important, no flunking the big test. I heard AP Lang is quite challenging, and I know son19 would not enjoy it much,
Hopefully she just a quick cold, but keep an eye out for flu symptoms, it’s pretty dangerous this year according to the news.
For my son, the weirder the mascot, the better. He’s that kid. So far, the Lebanon Valley Flying Dutchman and Goucher Gophers are vying for the top favorite mascot title. If he was interested in going out west, the infamous Banana Slug would probably be a draw.
My son has visited a few schools with Engineers as their mascot and thought they were completely unoriginal.
He didn’t mind their colors though.
My older son thinks the NEU mascot the Husky is pretty cool, and likes the colors too, but Uconn is also a husky and that confuses some people in New England.
I like the Catamount, UVM’s mascot, which is basically this fierce looking mountain lion.
I’ve long thought that the best mascot-that-could-have-been missed opportunity was Drake, which could have been the Drake Dragons. (Drake Drakes would have been a bit too precious, I figure.) Instead, they’re the Bulldogs.
My D17 is at Muhlenberg, and the first syllable of that is identical to the word ‘mule’—so in my favorite example of owning the name anywhere, they’re the Muhlenberg Mules.
Mascots can be offensive to some (e.g., Seminoles), they can incorporate demon mythology that you don’t approve (Sun Devils, Blue Devils). Or they can be just silly. You go to LSU and you will meet fellow Tigers, a noble animal that is near the top of the food chain. You go to UCSB and you meet a fellow Banana Slug. Or you can spend the rest of your life explaining what a Hoya is to people you meet.
So son scheduled his phone call with “most prestigious local tech school” for tomorrow night and is now freaking out, lol. I told him he’ll just need to be a bit prepared and just be himself. All of a sudden things have picked up pace for him and I think reality is finally starting to sink in. I’m going to have to find ways to keep him relaxed, and hopefully keep some stress away for him. Poor dude has so much going on with robotics, track, SAT right now.
I’m going to print out a list of questions for son19 that he might encounter tomorrow so he can be better prepared.
Being a Seminole I always liked our mascot and was told it was a sign of great respect to the tribe. I felt good about it. I like Chief Osceola on the horse with the spear, very cool! Then everything got PC in the last few years and I guess I feel bad for liking the mascot now. I think most of the tribe respects it too, but I’m sure there are some that don’t like it. I hope they don’t have to change it. I don’t think it portrays Seminoles in a bad way, It’s not a silly cartoonish example. It’s just an Indian and horse and a spear. But then again I’m just a white dad in the burbs so what do I know?
I have seen the RISD mascot in person and find that more offensive than the Seminole.
@RightCoaster Good luck to your S! I think a phone interview is easier than one in person. I’m sure he’ll be fine. Of course, make sure he has good questions about the school and can talk about his strengths in light of his activities. Maybe have him think about his favorite class and why it’s his favorite. Have him think about what his teachers would say about him if asked and what his friends would say. Those are all typical topics.
@RightCoaster Your S will do great! Sounds like you’re on the track with prepping some potential questions and answers in advance to give him a bit of confidence. Then he’ll realize that relaxing and just being himself is the way to go.
D doesn’t seem to care too much about mascots yet, but school colors are another thing. She has always loved Bowdoin just because its colors are black and white, nice and simple and looks good on school logo clothes. Of course she doesn’t want to apply there, just wishes all schools could have simple colors like that. :)) UVM was a problem because the colors were the same as her middle school and the mascot was (almost) the same as her high school. My school, St. Lawrence, just has ugly colors of scarlet and brown. And we are definitely a contender for least scary mascot - the saints. At hockey games a person dressed as an angel would skate around and throw out candy. She doesn’t like maroon and any school with orange is not good, especially when it is paired with purple (Clemson!) Luckily none of this would change her mind or else our list would be even harder to figure out than it is now!!
@RightCoaster I’ve always wondered if anyone is upset about the Seminoles. I live in FL now but have her heard much about it. I could see people being offended about the tomahawk chop thing they do at games but I don’t know about the mascot since like you said it isn’t a cartoon representation.
I lived in Florida when the NCAA got serious about eliminating Native American references to mascots. The speed with which Florida State got the Seminole tribe full-throatedly supporting their mascot was breathtaking.
Good luck to any of your kids that dislike certain school colors or mascots! So far son19 is most likely to end up a school with red/white or crimson/white. Not bad. He doesn’t seem to factor that in to his thinking so far.
But I’ve heard stories of kids that wouldn’t go to schools. with orange, or green and yellow, and even one girl decided not to go to Brown because their color was well… brown! Ha.
hopefully it’s just a virus she will recover from quickly.
