San Jacinto Unified School District’s Park Hill Elementary held a pep assembly for students on Friday, May 27, 2016, to tell the history of the selection of the bison as their school mascot, and celebrate President Obama’s proclamation earlier this month that the bison is our national mammal.
The assembly activities started off with an introduction of the Four Directions Native American Club from nearby Estudillo Elementary, under the advisory of First-Grade Teacher Mrs. Patricia Chavez. Mrs. Chavez explained to the audience that the bison is very important to the Native American culture, and they are also proud of Park Hill students learning about the importance of wildlife conservation and respect for the history of the bison. Students from the Four Directions club performed two dances to celebrate the occasion.
Park Hill Principal Dulce Noriega shared with the students how the bison was selected as their mascot back in 1992. “When students moved into the initial portables on the campus while permanent buildings were being constructed, we were only known as New School A,” said Principal Noriega. “Everyone could see the town area known as Park Hill from the construction site, and there were buffalo roaming on the hill side.” Teacher Jane Logan suggested that the school mascot should be the bison, and the school board agreed to it, and that is how they became the Park Hill Elementary Bison.
Principal Noriega further shared that a local family named the Minor’s owned the roaming bison, and she introduced Larry Minor to the students. Mr. Minor, after introducing his wife Sandy, daughter Amy, and two granddaughters, explained how his family long ago began raising buffalo. He said that to make room for new houses in the area, most of the buffalo were taken away to other places and just a few remained. “We keep them as pets, and we have had one new baby bison each year for the past three,” said Mr. Minor. “My granddaughter gets to name them, and the one born just two weeks ago was named Anna.”
The pep assembly ended with the staff band “The Sea is Mine” leading all the students in their school song called The Expectation Song. Band members Jonathan Kunz, Austin Malik, and the song’s writer Taylor Hammond really got the bison house rocking, especially as everyone sang the ending chorus line “Stomp stomp snort snort, Go Bisons!”