Thursday, December 4, 2008

Fear the Starfish


You may remember that Lulu's school mascot is a starfish. The school is a new school and, yes, I too thought that the starfish was an odd mascot for sure. I didn't think that any mascot could be worse than the University of Maryland's turtle terrapin. His name is Testudo which apparently means "protective shell" in Latin. "Fear the Turtle" is a common U of MD team slogan born from the basketball's National Championship run in 2002. Would you be scared of this guy?

Not so much!

In defense of Lulu's school administration and our community, I must explain to you that the idea for the starfish was chosen by the teachers as a result of the Starfish story that has been adapted from Loren Eiseley's Star Thrower. You can read about it here or watch the short (52 second) YouTube clip below. The moral of the story is that 'as individuals, we can choose to take action and participate in the world around us. Together, we can make a difference one step at a time.'





After watching the video during the school orientation, I totally understood why the faculty would choose a starfish as the mascot. However, people still give me a weird look when I tell them that the mascot is a starfish. I can her the cheerleaders now:


Hit it!

We are the starfish -

the mighty, mighty starfish!


1 comment:

Manic Mommy said...

Oh, don't hate the turtle. :) Now I'll have to dig out my sorority handbook to give you the symbolism of the turtle. :)