CAPE SCHOOLS GET NEW ALL-SCHOOLS TIGER FLAG

Old, new and future Central High School alumni were on hand Monday to see the first school flag raised and flown over the school.

Board of Education members, administrators, faculty and elementary school students joined Central graduates from the 1950s through 1990s to watch the flag raising, which took place during an all-school assembly on the front lawn. The program was sponsored by the Renaissance club, a student organization that recognizes excellence in academics and athletics and advocates school pride.

The flag, designed by 11th-grade art student Julie Moser, features the script letters CHS scrawled diagonally in black across an orange-and-black tiger-striped background. Moser competed against other art students to develop the winning design, which was then voted on by Central students and staff.

Each of the school district's nine school buildings will get a flag, all of which were paid for by the high school. Julia Jorgensen, Renaissance club sponsor, said the purpose of getting a flag designed and developed was to encourage districtwide school spirit.

"Right now district schools are a little fragmented in that each school has its own colors, its own logo, and our thinking is they all feel disassociated with Central High School," she said. "We are trying to get all of our schools to become Tigers so the younger students will be more inclined to come to football games and basketball games and really feel that Tiger pride."

School pride was the major theme of assembly speakers Gary Gardner, head men's basketball coach at Southeast Missouri State University; district athletic director Terry Kitchen; and 11th-grader Emmanuel Harris. Each of the speakers encouraged students to be leaders and to represent their school, organizations and community.

Harris told students being a Central Tiger meant being a leader at all times and in all places. Leadership comes from experience, and Central High School provides students with many opportunities to gain leadership skills.

"I see Cape Central as a school where there is leadership and there is learning," he said. "Through our teachers and our peers, we are pushed daily to overcome the disappointments and become leaders. I'm excited about our flag going up and I'm excited about our school because we're a family, and here is where we gain the experiences to meet the challenges of life."