Bethesda Chevy Chase HS Mascot - a just wondering question
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Anonymous
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The Bethesda Chevy Chase High School mascot is the "Battlin' Baron", and the Baron is just the Note Dame Leprechaun with a different hat and the clothes in different colors. Does anyone know the story of how and when BCC adopted the modified Notre Dame mascot as their own? I know that the Notre Dame Leprechaun was only created in the mid-1960's. Or why they have never redrawn the mascot to be more distinctive? Do any alumni or parents of BCC students know the story? |
Anonymous
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he Barons
By 1937, the 10th to 12th graders were comfortably settled in their new building facing what is now Chelton Road. They had selected the name "Highwaymen" for their sports teams and planted pine trees in front of the school. There was now a "B" building, which held 20 classrooms, and a new gym that also served as an auditorium. "We were just getting out of the Depression," said Elise Brownell (‘37). There were sororities and fraternities, and students attended dances at the Bethesda Women’s Club, the Congressional Country Club, and the Naval Academy. There were movies at the Hiser Theater and the Borough Theater, although B-CC kids termed it the "Bore-o," because of its B-movie fare. School started at 9:00 a.m. with a ten-minute homeroom, during which there was roll call, a flag salute, and the Lord’s prayer. There were generally 28 to 30 students in each class. Girls wore dresses to school, and boys wore long pants with flannel or sports shirts; no one wore shorts. During lunch and after school, the students who smoked flocked to a cluster of trees between the school and East-West Highway, popularly called "the grove." Since it was against state law to smoke on school grounds, Principal Pyle set aside the special area and had teachers patrol the grounds. "The grove" was B-CC’s most popular meeting place from 1936 until 1950, when part of the land was used to build the Administration Building. Ever since B-CC had moved into the new school on East-West Highway, the students had been known as the "Highwaymen" in school cheers, newspaper articles, and other publicity in the Washington, D.C. area. B-CC was also recognized as a highly prestigious school, due in part to the affluent, educated community from which it drew its students, as well as the lack of many other high schools in the area to divert B-CC’s talented teachers and scholars. The Tattler pointed all this out in an article on October 24, 1940: "For several years the many athletic teams, and the student body for that matter, have received a great deal of publicity in the Washington papers, and in every paper they have been referred to as the Highwaymen. "The students of Bethesda-Chevy Chase believe that a more pleasing and appropriate name would be more descriptive for a school of such caliber and ranking." So The Tattler sponsored a nickname contest, in which all students could submit their ideas. Out of 40 or 50 suggested names, The Tattler nickname committee selected six and put them up for a school-wide vote. If the students had voted differently 60 years ago, B-CC’s sports teams and mascot might have been called the "Buccaneers," the "Bulldogs," the "Highwaymen," the "Blue Devils," or the "Blue Satans." But the name they chose out of the six options was student Carolyn Martin’s entry, the "Barons." "Barons" received 266 votes, 46 more than the 2nd place finisher, the "Highwaymen." For her winning entry, Carolyn Martin received a prize of $1.00. http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/bcchs/aboutbcc/profile/history.html |
Anonymous
| Since the Ballard of Chevy Chase tells of a battle between the Scottish Earl of Douglass and the English Earl of Northumberland, the mascot should really be the Fighting Earls. |
Anonymous
| Maybe they should have another contest? |
Anonymous
sure |
Anonymous
| Ugh I hate that nickname. It’s unamerican and sexist— the girls sports teams are left being the “lady barons”. |
Anonymous
BCC alum here. It’s a goofy mascot and lady baron’s is lame, but there is way deeper sexism at BCC than changing the mascot. Let’s focus on that first. |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
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^^
Barons = nobility = not particularly American. |
Anonymous
Of course. I was really depressed by the levels of sexual assault that came out on the instagram pages. The culture seems to suck. But if someone starts a thread on the mascot I am still going to point out how dumb it is. |
Anonymous
| The Bethesda-Chevy Chase Bruins seems a lot more fitting. |
Anonymous
Get over it. |
Anonymous
Because changing the mascot will eradicate sexism and racism at BCC. 
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Anonymous
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NP here. My kid is slated to start B-CC next year and I agree that the image of the “Baron”, ie like the ND mascot, is odd, incongruous, and not particularly inspiring. They could do so much better. B-Cc students seem like go-getters in general so I would’ve thought they could have taken this on by now.
Since re-visiting mascots is in vogue now (for good reason) I think it’d be good to evaluate the associations of a “Baron” and whether it’s the best choice to represent them. Not only is it all the aristocratic associations, but it’s got additional negative connotations like “Robber Baron” and others.... |
Anonymous
You could be a Mad Cow at WJ 
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