SCENE THE
THE
Spring Issue 2
March 5, 2021
THESCENEFP.COM
Sports in a pandemic
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Childhood memories See page 4
St. Louis Community College at Forest Park
New mascot is quiet but foxy Archie appears on clothing, foam fingers
By the Scene staff
By The Scene staff St. Louis Community College got a new mascot nearly two years ago, but COVID19 kept him largely out of sight in 2020, and his image just started appearing on STLCC merchandise. “Archie” the fox can now be found on hoodies, foam fingers, megaphones, keychains and other items sold in campus bookstores or distributed at hospitality tables. “He’s been around, but I don’t think they’ve done a lot of promotion,” said Kirk Martin, faculty supervisor of the Forest Park gymnasium. “I like him. ... He’s a funny character, and people respond to him pretty well. You’d think it would just be children, but even adults turn into big fans when he’s around.” Archie made his debut in 2019, when STLCC bought a costume for a 6-foot-tall grey fox with tufts of white fur, a giant head and bright blue eyes. He offered more personality than the college’s original mascot, the Gateway Arch. Archie showed up for Archers sports games, training sessions and other events. Then the coronavirus hit, sending most students and faculty members home for remote learning. “Archie got out quite a bit that first year,” said Mike Overman, director of athletics. “But obviously with the pandemic, there haven’t been nearly as many campus-related events.”
Consolidation plan
For decades, STLCC campuses had their own mascots and sports teams that competed against each other. Forest Park teams were called the Highlanders, and their mascot was a man from the Scottish Highlands, wearing a kilt and playing a bagpipe. The campus had been built in the 1960s on the site of The Highlands amusement park, which was destroyed in a fire.
A and B tower bricks are still available
Photos by Fred Ortlip
Above, STLCC Athletics Director Mike Overman poses with the college’s new mascot, Archie, in the Forest Park gym. Below, items for sale at the campus bookstore feature the new mascot.
In 2011, the STLCC Board of Trustees voted to cut costs by implementing a sports consolidation plan. It replaced teams on individual campuses with one districtwide
team for each sport. “The name ‘Archers’ evokes an attitude that reflects St. Louis’ identity as the Gateway to the West and the passion that (the college’s) team will take into competition,” Athletics Task Force member Pam McIntyre stated at the time. In 2017, the Student Affairs department started searching for a new mascot. That was before Overman became director of athletics. The college “tried to come up with something that made sense,” he said, noting the grey fox is indigenous to Missouri. “We wouldn’t have a crocodile or an alligator or something like that.”
Forest Park students, faculty and staff had mixed feelings about the demolition of A and B towers last year, with some viewing it as a loss of architectural history. The campus’s midcentury-modern buildings had been constructed in the 1960s after being designed by a renowned architect. Starting in November, the St. Louis Community College Foundation began offering bricks for sale as keepsakes. Some have commemorative metal plates with the words, “St. Louis Community College Forest Park, 1967 to 2020.” “You can own a piece of history!” the STLCC marketing and communications department advertised. The foundation started with 300 bricks. Prices range from $53 for a plain brick to $153 for a brick with a commemorative plate to $253 for a brick with a plate and engraved paver for the 60th anniversary celebration. Kamille Pope, donor relations and major gifts coordinator for the foundation, said about 10% of the bricks have been sold. “It’s been a little slow due to the pandemic. People haven’t really been on campus.” Money raised from the brick project is going into the “Forest Park Enhancement Fund.” “That is just simply a fund to enhance the campus,” Pope said, noting Forest Park administrators will make final decisions. They’ve discussed needs such as landscaping and outdoor seating. STLCC built a new Center for Nursing and Health Sciences at Forest Park in 2019. After it opened, A and B towers were demolished to provide greenspace around the center and allow for construction of a new campus entrance. For more information on the commemorative brick project, visit the website at bit.ly/3baEB2S or call 314-539-5216.
Quiet cheerleader
STLCC students are expected to play the role of Archie in the future, but during COVID-19, two anonymous employees have been shouldering the responsibility. That includes cleaning and disinfect-
See Archie page 2
A brick with a commemorative metal plate sells for $153.
Archie
from page 1
ing the costume, particularly the head, after each use to keep germs from spreading. “Archie doesn’t speak to anybody,” one of the employees said. “You have to be very animated and draw people in just by your emotion and getting their attention, so there is no verbal communication from Archie.” The employee got pep-rally experience as a high-school cheerleader, but there’s really no way to prepare for wearing a fox costume in hot, humid weather. One outside event last year required 20-minute rotations. “You have to bring extra clothes to wear underneath Archie,” the employee said. “It’s pretty much like a wool outfit. It’s pretty warm.” STLCC departments and organizations can request Archie to attend their events by going to his page on the college’s website. He’s already booked for graduation.
staff try to instill in their student athletes, according to men’s basketball coach Terry Collins, whose team is based at Foreest Park. Collins believes the mascot can positively affect STLCC campus life in many ways. “I would love to have the college invest a little more in finding a qualified candidate every year to embody Archie and be a very visible presence on campus — inviting students to the games, creating an energetic atmosphere at a variety of student events and engaging faculty and staff as well,” he said. Collins proposed the idea of Student Activities working with the STLCC Foundation to create a scholarship competition to select a student to portray Archie, perhaps with the help of business or marketing majors. “If the college invested scholarship dollars into the project, it would communicate the administration’s commitment to the importance of the mascot,” he said. “I would even volunteer to serve on a committee to implement the project.” Overman said efforts are being made to establish a scholarship for students who portray Archie. Interested candidates can email him at moverman4@stlcc.edu.
“You have to bring extra clothes to wear underneath Archie.”
Scholarship possibility
Archie is a physical education and theater major who enjoys meeting new people and cheering the Archers to victory, according to his foxy online profile. “Archie is friendly, confident, smart, energetic and always learning,” it states. These are some of the characteristics that
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Classified ads Attention future journalists: The St. Louis Press Club is inviting students to apply for scholarships and internships. “We offer many opportunities for budding journalists,” said Claudia Burris, vice president of scholarships. The application deadline is April 1, 2021. Here is the link: bit.ly/3kERdCG.
Photo by Markell Tompkins
Plait knife Fine arts major Barbara St. John, 72, uses a plait knife to paint a picture in an art class on the fourth floor of F Tower.
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The Scene
THESCENEFP.COM
2/5/21 9:45 AM
March 5, 2021
Fall athletes forced to put a spring in their steps
T
he pandemic not only has affected Forest Park’s faculty, staff and the general student population but also several STLCC’s athletic teams in the 2020-21 season. In July, the NJCAA, the sanctioning sports body for community colleges, decided to move many fall sports to the spring semester. This affected men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball teams, all of which are playing condensed schedules. In addition, STLCC student-athletes have had to adjust to the health and safety protocols that are in place to minimize the risk of contracting COVID-19 and adapt to new styles of learning in their courses. Fans aren’t yet allowed at STLCC basketball games, but both the men’s and women’s teams put on exciting performances in a doubleheader March 1 at the Forest Park gymnasium. The men broke open a tightly fought contest late to defeat the No. 2-ranked NJCAA
SPORTS IN A
Pandemic
The bench of the STLCC men’s basketball team in the Forest Park gym, where social-distance seating is practiced.
Division II team and previously unbeaten Arkansas State University Mid-South 68-57. The Archers got 15 points from David Jones and 14 each from Doreante
Tucker and Ahian Barnett to improve to 7-5. The STLCC women’s team fell to 4-4 after losing 59-58 to No. 8-ranked ASU
With 3 seconds remaining in the game, Keiana Delaney of Arkansas State University Mid-South looks to make an inbounds pass as STLCC’s Carsyn Beachy (0) defends along with Louise Pilley (11), Courtney Lumpkins (2), Makayla Williams (3) and Kierra Winkeler (obscured). ASU won 59-58.
Lyndell Hunt of STLCC scores over Monroe Carr late in the action.
March 5, 2021
Ahian Barnett of STLCC saves the ball from going out of bounds as David Jones (21) anticipates the play.
Photos by Fred Ortlip
The Scene
THESCENEFP.COM
Mid-South. Kierra Winkeler scored 22 points, Courtney Lumpkins had 15 and Makayla Williams added 11 to lead the Archers.
STLCC’s Trayvon Robinson battles Sam Smith of Arkansas State University Mid-South.
STLCC’s Kierra Winkeler concentrates on her free throw attempt.
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Campus chatter
La Toya Smith, 33, admissions employee “Lisa Frank and Scholastic. (Lisa) was very popular in my childhood in the ‘90s with her colorful animal stickers. I loved that so much. And the Scholastic Book Fairs, which came to the school about every other month, and students could save up money and buy books and fun science projects, catalogs and other stuff.”
Kelin Hill,19, business management “Probably learning how to ride a bike for the first time.”
Nhan Le, 23, biotech “Getting my driver’s license. I had to study a lot. It took me three or four tries to get my license, and now I can drive to school. Before that, I had to get a ride.”
What is your favorite childhood memory?
Justin Wallace, 20, business management “When my granddad took me across America on a road trip. One of my favorite spots was Dallas, Texas, and we went to the football stadium. We got on the field, went in the locker room and met some of the players.”
By Markell Tompkins
Jake Castro, 19, paramedic “Riding in a firetruck for the first time during a parade in downtown St. Louis.”
Tyler Davis, 22, automotive technology “My only good childhood memory is when I went to see my favorite football team. Well, another good memory is going to see my favorite movie (‘National Treasure’) with my uncle before he passed away.”
Tylr Gottschalk, 23, fine arts/bookstore employee “Probably being at my grandpa’s watching ‘Scooby Doo’ (the original) on Boomerang.”
Pietro Serra, 24, potential student “Going to Cardinals games at Busch Stadium, Blues games and other sporting events. I also liked going to Creve Coeur Park and walking around the lake.”
Ayanna Davis, 18, fine arts “Watching anime (Pokémon) with my older brother. It was the best experience ever.”
Taylor Brown, 22, culinary arts “Traveling to New Mexico with my family because some of my family is from New Mexico. I’m a culinary student so memories of the food I ate there is probably up there for me.”
Rosetta Pellegrino, 37, nursing “Playing in the swimming pool at (Tower Grove Park) with my father.”
Adela Rico, 21, nursing “Traveling to Mexico with my entire family and staying with my dad. We would always drive, and it would take two days to get there, and it was pretty fun.”
Layout by Katelyn Clancy
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The Scene
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March 5, 2021