The school district is asking for input on mascotting the intermediate school, or as I like to call it, “Forks Elementary School, Part II”. At first I wondered why the students at FES Part II weren’t just allowed to pick the mascot that they wanted. Then I remembered what happened the last time the kids were allowed to choose their own mascot; 9 months later, we got the Puddle Jumpers.

Before you send hate mail on this one, let me remind you that I probably voted for the Puddle Jumpers. I was a student at Forks Elementary School when it was put to a vote. I blame myself. Nonetheless, this highlights why kids under the age of 25 should not be trusted to vote on anything. If we’re being honest, they probably shouldn’t be trusted to dress themselves either. I just turned 30 and I barely feel capable of dressing myself.

Anyway, some really good ideas have been thrown out for a mascot. Two of the proposed options are good anyway. The third proposed option, The Warriors, is not a good option and I will tell you why. Forks Middle School is already mascotted as The Warriors. In Chapter 4, Section 232, of the Mascot Picking Outing Handbook, it very clearly states that you CANNOT double up on a mascot.

We cannot have two schools with the same mascot! Why? Because it gets very confusing. Just imagine if there was a districtwide contest among the schools for collecting box tops or something. Imagine that the contest was super close between FES Part II and Forks Middle School. Christi (the real journalist, not me) would have such a tough time writing that article!

“The Warriors and The Warriors are neck in neck in this very exciting box top collecting contest! The Warriors were leading, but then the Warriors took the lead when Sally Jane (a Warrior student) brought in a crap-ton (which converts to about 214, by the way) of box tops! Which Warrior will come out on top of the Warrior pile?”

Now, I have no doubt that Christi (the real journalist, not me) would do a fine job with this article because she’s a good writer. However, she shouldn’t have to work this hard to differentiate between schools! Who will think of Christi?

Having said all of that, I would like to throw out a completely different mascot idea. While the Eagles and the Cougars are perfectly fine ideas, I think we should keep a theme going. I vote that we go with The Puddle Leapers as a mascot for the FES Part II! Think about it, it’s just a step up from the Puddle Jumpers, much like how the school itself is just a step up from FES Part I. I think it’s perfect. Then again, I’m not voting this time, which is probably a good thing. Look what happened last time I got to vote.

For questions, comments or to vote for the Mighty Puddle Leapers, e-mail me at Christyrasmussen@yahoo.com.