On the first day of school, students found a statue of Bubba, a Mountie, the school mascot, under the memorial of Randall Spaulding. Since its inception, it has received subpar feedback from students and people alike.
Beau Whitehill is one of these people. Throughout the first month of school, he has paid it no attention.
“I didn’t even know it existed,” Whitehill said. “The statue is targeted towards students passionate about school, which is virtually non-existent.”
MHS junior Bryant Wolfe agrees. During the first few days, he felt uneasy around the statue. “I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t feel comfortable either,” Wolfe said.
The statue, originally given from a donor who commissioned the statue, has been in the school for longer than nine years. Throughout the years, Bubba experienced many changes in location, originally placed in Room 09, moving to Assistant Principal Reginald Clark’s office, then to yet another room before finally being moved to where it resides now.
These reviews have led to speculation surrounding the purpose of the statue, why it was changed to its current location and whether the statue is a successful talisman.
Teacher Jennifer Richtberg proposes one such theory. She theorizes that the statue is used for good luck, as is stated with the sign attached to it.
Richtberg claims, however, that the statue has not achieved that purpose yet, as due to its subtle appearance and awkward positioning, it is difficult to notice this. The statue be dressed up for certain occasions like Halloween and moved to more prominent locations to appeal to the students more, Richtberg said.
The Mountie statue is based on our school mascot, though the fact that it’s a bulldog alone does not explain why the school takes pride in this. Clark explains the reason for the mascot being a bulldog was that a football coach used to bring his bulldog to all his matches to the point that it became immortalized in the form of our mascot.
Whitehill suggests the Mountie bulldog move is an attempt to show pride for the school but maintains this has failed. Whitehill advises the school host more events to engage with the students. He also claims that the statue might not be receiving enough public attention. Could a PR campaign for Bubba be in the works?
