You could hear the cheers from outside of the Morgan Auditorium – as bears, birds, and bobcats all took the stage.

The celebration was a surprise birthday party for Bird/Morgan School’s mascot. Named OSCAR, which stands for Our School Cares About Reading, the mascot has the mission to make reading fun, accessible, and engaging for students.

OSCAR was introduced at an assembly in the beginning of the year, sparking students’ imaginations and interest in visiting his ‘den’ which is made up of books the students can check out. The brainchild of Monroe One’s literacy leader James Wolfe and librarian Karen Cole, OSCAR and the attached reading initiative has been successful in its mission.

On May 23, the two held an end-of-year assembly for students in kindergarten through eighth grade. After reading a short book and singing happy birthday to OSCAR, they surprised students by inviting other mascots onto the stage to dance.

They included mascots from our partnering school districts; the Brighton Bruin, the Honeoye Falls-Lima Cougar, the Irondequoit High School Eagle, the Webster Klem North Start, the Webster Dewitt Elementary School panda, the Webster Schroeder Warrior, the Webster Thomas titan, the Rush-Henrietta lion, and of course, Creekside School's bulldog. 

Joining the fun were also mascots from area universities; the St John Fisher cardinal and Swoop from Nazareth College.

Last, but most certainly not least, was Spikes from the Rochester Red Wings, who helped kick off the auditorium dance party – students and staff jumped up to dance with all of the mascots as they made their way off the stage and into the audience.

All of the mascots also lined up outside for dismissal to wave to every student leaving for the day; with students posing for photos, asking for hugs, and expressing how it was one of the best days of their lives!

Video and photos from the event can be found by visiting facebook.com/MonroeOneBOCES