By Halsey Copp

Poland Regional High School



Mascot noun – a person, animal, or object adopted by a group as a symbolic figure especially to bring them good luck and spirit.

You have to ask yourself, with all the school spirit Poland Regional High School proclaims to have, where is our mascot to lead all of it? I know we have the best cheerleading team in the state, but who is there to cheer on our cheerleaders? That’s where the mascot should come in. Behind every good team there is a trusty companion who cheers on that team no matter what happens…and that trusty companion is exactly what Poland needs.

There have been some rumors about a young lady who rode her horse to a PRHS home soccer game dressed in a Knights costume. Mr. Lafreniere commented, “The young lady’s name was Sara Boyd and she was our mascot [back in a 1999-2000] game to complete some co-curricular credit.” He also commented that he would love to see a permanent mascot to go along with our brand new logo provided by junior Jessie Champagne.

It is also understood that along with the mascot comes luck and I don’t know anyone who would complain about lady luck being on our side. Think of all the great teams Poland has had that couldn’t quite pull it off when it came down to the big final contest. For example: Last year our great cheerleading squad made it all the way to states and put out a fantastic routine but fell a little short to Rockland and came in second. A very fine job by our ladies but still they were lacking a few points that maybe a charismatic Knights mascot could have provided. Another example of a team who fell short would be our 2003 golf team. Our golf team put out a fantastic undefeated regular season of 10 and 0, then went on to beat Gorham in a pride match. (Gorham being one on the top seated teams in our state drooping out of Poland’s division because they felt the weren’t being challenged). But when Poland went on to states it was safe to say that they didn’t meet their expectations, not qualifying anyone individually or as a team.

So you have to wonder if there is something in the water that is keeping these teams from greatness… or do you think those wins at the big championships could be attained with a little Knights spirit from a mascot? Time will tell…