2008 Woodie Awards
Cougar statue unveiled on Quad
Steve Berry
Issue date: 10/4/07 Section: News
Outside the lunch rush jungle of the Morris University Center Wednesday, a bronze cougar was revealed.
Years of planning and fundraising came to fruition Wednesday afternoon when a life-size cougar statue was unveiled in front of the Morris University Center by Chancellor Vaughn Vandegrift, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Narbeth Emmanuel, former Chair of the School Spirit and Pride Committee Nikki Grashoff and members of the former Cougar Guard.
The previous Cougar mascots, Chimega and Kyna, lived under a geodesic dome on campus and walked the grounds under the care of students in the Cougar Guard. Chimega died in 1985 and Kyna was taken away in 1987.
"Since then our campus has been lacking any form of a physical mascot," Student Body President Laurie Estilette said.
The campus currently has a cougar suit students dress up in to become "Cory the Cougar."
During the 2003-2004 school year, the Student Government's School Spirit and Pride Committee started to formulate a project to remember the live cougar mascots and increase school spirit.
Hundreds of students surrounded the cougar statue, titled "Taking Stalk," for the unveiling and T-shirt giveaway.
Junior Jeremy Wood was in attendance.
"We got to see the paper thing fall down and then we saw the actual cougar. It's really nice. It looks like it's just like prowling, trying to hunt for something, which is really kind of cool," Wood said.
Estilette, Vandegrift and Grashoff spoke in front of the tarp-covered monument before it was unveiled.
Vandegrift and Estilette spoke highly of Grashoff's dedication to bringing this statue to campus.
"While I think all of these students had a lot to do with it, Nikki Grashoff is going to speak probably more than anybody else. On the student side (she) really stuck up for this concept," Vandegrift said.
Vandegrift also said Emmanuel played a significant role in bringing the statue to campus. Emmanuel secured a grant for the "Bring the Cougar Home" campaign.
Other funds for the $39,000 statue were raised by trivia nights, silent auctions, the sale of Cougar bracelets and the sale of commemorative bricks.
Steve Jankowski, director of the Alumni Association, said the association publicized the sale of bricks, which will be attached to the base of the statue.
"In essence, we were a support system publicizing the availability of bricks and encouraging people to support bringing the statue here, and we got quite a bit of alumni support in that process," Jankowski said
Under the giant mass of bronze that is "Taking Stalk," Grashoff said the statue was amazing and the number of students around it was overwhelming.
"It was more than I expected and I love it," Grashoff said.
Years of planning and fundraising came to fruition Wednesday afternoon when a life-size cougar statue was unveiled in front of the Morris University Center by Chancellor Vaughn Vandegrift, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Narbeth Emmanuel, former Chair of the School Spirit and Pride Committee Nikki Grashoff and members of the former Cougar Guard.
The previous Cougar mascots, Chimega and Kyna, lived under a geodesic dome on campus and walked the grounds under the care of students in the Cougar Guard. Chimega died in 1985 and Kyna was taken away in 1987.
"Since then our campus has been lacking any form of a physical mascot," Student Body President Laurie Estilette said.
The campus currently has a cougar suit students dress up in to become "Cory the Cougar."
During the 2003-2004 school year, the Student Government's School Spirit and Pride Committee started to formulate a project to remember the live cougar mascots and increase school spirit.
Hundreds of students surrounded the cougar statue, titled "Taking Stalk," for the unveiling and T-shirt giveaway.
Junior Jeremy Wood was in attendance.
"We got to see the paper thing fall down and then we saw the actual cougar. It's really nice. It looks like it's just like prowling, trying to hunt for something, which is really kind of cool," Wood said.
Estilette, Vandegrift and Grashoff spoke in front of the tarp-covered monument before it was unveiled.
Vandegrift and Estilette spoke highly of Grashoff's dedication to bringing this statue to campus.
"While I think all of these students had a lot to do with it, Nikki Grashoff is going to speak probably more than anybody else. On the student side (she) really stuck up for this concept," Vandegrift said.
Vandegrift also said Emmanuel played a significant role in bringing the statue to campus. Emmanuel secured a grant for the "Bring the Cougar Home" campaign.
Other funds for the $39,000 statue were raised by trivia nights, silent auctions, the sale of Cougar bracelets and the sale of commemorative bricks.
Steve Jankowski, director of the Alumni Association, said the association publicized the sale of bricks, which will be attached to the base of the statue.
"In essence, we were a support system publicizing the availability of bricks and encouraging people to support bringing the statue here, and we got quite a bit of alumni support in that process," Jankowski said
Under the giant mass of bronze that is "Taking Stalk," Grashoff said the statue was amazing and the number of students around it was overwhelming.
"It was more than I expected and I love it," Grashoff said.
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