This academic year has been a big one for many reasons, but for all those who work on the Etownian’s Campus Life section, this year marks the triumph of our mascot Rory as he made his way into the minds and hearts of all of our readers.
Despite his newfound reputation, many of our readers don’t know the story of Rory or how he came to be our cherished mascot. As such, for our last issue of the academic year, let’s dive into the history of Rory the Frog.
Rory’s journey began over four years ago at the hands of the 2023 alumna and then Campus Life Editor, Elizabeth Cunningham. Rory started as a simple way to fill the white space in the Campus Life section, but quickly became something much more, as he slowly evolved to include things such as Rory’s Comedy Corner and, as of this year, gained a rotating closet of thematically cute outfits.
Rory descends from a storied line of historical figures including Cleopatra, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Napoleon, Galileo, Diogenes and more.
Once upon a time, all the sections had mascots, but over time, each of the various sections gave up on their beloved mascots, leaving only Marvin the Monkey, the mascot of the Sports section of the newspaper, and Rory the Frog. Unfortunately, as of this year, Rory stands alone in our newspaper, after the tragic “disappearance” of Marvin.
Now that Rory is the solitary mascot left on the Etownian, he has been able to see his greatest dream realized, being printed in color. With this new enhancement, Rory surged into the hearts and minds of students around campus, some even carrying around small images of him with them.
Initially, Rory was located in the activities box that encases the tic-tac-toe board and the word search. However, Rory’s upgrade allowed him to breach the activities section into bigger and better things.
His colorful form allowed him to be dressed up in outfits by Campus Life Editor Charlie Carberry, which then evolved into what is now Rory’s Comedy Corner. The artwork of Rory is created nowadays by Assistant Campus Life Editor Natalie Meyer using a combination of Canva, Photoshop, and paint.net to create and adjust assets to fit him.
Between his first outfit as a cowboy rancher, to his numerous other outfits including, but not limited to, a cat, Barbie, a vampire, a scarecrow, a pirate, a lion, Cupid, a winter outfit, a dark academia outfit, a gardener, a “graverobber,” a drag queen, a fisherman, a swimsuit, a wizard and a pumpkin– all that can be said for sure is that he is a model Renaissance frog.
In this issue, you can find him donning a wonderful detective outfit! One might wonder, as I once did, how does Rory have the time to pursue all these different jobs while still carrying the entire Campus Life section on his back?
Meyer answers this query, “Rory does not follow the conventions of human society, and therefore does what he likes without regard for the construct of time.”
Looking to the future, now that Rory has accomplished his goal of being in color, he has set his sights on his next goal, getting merchandise in the Etown school store! From there, he aims to become the official school mascot, replacing the Blue Jay.
Rory wants to thank his fans all through Elizabethtown College for supporting him throughout his time here in Campus Life as you all have read his jokes, admired his outfits and brought him to his new colorful form. Rory also wants all of his readers to remember to stay green and stay silly.
