Day One Hundred and Twenty-Five: Chesty's Birthday

This week is teacher appreciation week here at Lawrence High School, home of the Chesty Lions. Today word roared across the school that Chesty the Lion, the school's proud mascot, would also be celebrating his birthday.

When people hear that I work at Lawrence High, a question I am often asked is, "why are you guys the chesty lions?"

I'll let this excerpt from the History of LHS website explain:

The lion was first used as a school symbol in 1930. The Budget (school newspaper), Friday, November 8, 1929, carried the following:

"Lawrence High School has long needed a mascot and the suggestion, growing out of the recent pep rally, to call ourselves the lions, has been wholeheartedly accepted. A mascot should symbolize the characteristics of the school and no other animal expresses our strength of purpose better than the lion, the King of the beasts, his strength, bravery, and aggressiveness which our competitors find we also have."

The Chesty Lion symbol is as was drawn by Paul Coker in 1946. A Lawrence Memorial High School graduate, he is now a well-known cartoonist.

The Lion is chesty because he is proud of LHS and the things for which it stands.

So happy birthday, Chesty, I hope we make you proud!