A knight's life is not always an easy sword to wield.
Glory ignites and rages quickly in the heat of the contest but, alas, can soon wisp away, like a candle's flame in a nocturnal breeze across the moor.Just ask the knight who quested to be the mascot of the new high school being built in north Layton.
In the month of Julius Caesar, a committee of Layton lords gathered to select possible names for the new school and appoint it an appropriate mascot. The knight immediately rose to high grace among the lords, edging out the bison and the ram.
But the knight had his detractors, those who declared he was too similar to that cross-village rival, the Layton High Lancer.
At a rendezvous during the month of August (as in Caesar), the lords knocked the knight from his horse, favoring instead the lobo, the bison and the bruin.
But the new high school's future peasant body, led by sophomore Nancy Sandoval, revolted, claiming the knight was the preferred ambassador for the student masses. The lords bowed to the popular pressure and presented the knight as their top choice.
The ruling class of the Davis School District acquiesced and on Tuesday laid its excalibur upon the knight's shoulders.
Henceforth, the new high school shall be known as Northridge and its mascot shall be the knight, clothed in cardinal red and silver.
It's a choice that suits new Principal Ross Poore just fine.
"The knight is a positive concept," Poore told the school board. It conjures up images of chivalry and the "quest for excellence," he said.
The choice also affords the school a medieval theme that could include a "round table" for student government and a "shield of honor" for students who excel, he said.
"There are so many things you can do with it to set a positive school tone."
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(Additional information)
Red and silver\ The Davis School Board has approved the name, mascot and colors for the new $29 million high school under construction in north Layton.
Name: Northridge
Mascot: The knight
Colors: Cardinal (dark red) and silver.
The school, designed to alleviate crowding at Clearfield and Layton high schools, is scheduled to open in August 1992.