HUCKLEBERRY HILL SCHOOL’S new Huck the Hero mascot was unveiled by, from left, Disney artist Rob Surette, HHS PTO Vice President Mai Vo Vaillancourt, Principal Lauren King and HHS PTO Enrichment Coordinator Cheeta Soga during a recent school-wide assembly. (Courtesy Photo)
By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD —A new mascot made entirely out of non-Lego bricks is a huge hit at Huckleberry Hill School.
Huckleberry Hill School recently unveiled its brand new mascot, Huck the Hero, during a school-wide assembly. Huck is a replica of a husky that is made out of 40,000 non-Lego bricks.
Principal Lauren King said the process of developing the new Huck the Hero mascot started after she began leading Huckleberry Hill last summer. She wanted to create a mascot that reflected the school’s longtime “Huckleberry Heroes” theme.
“I met with the PTO over the summer and we started brainstorming the idea of developing and designing a mascot to be our hero,” said King.
King said she reached out to Disney artist Rob Surette to design the new mascot.
“Rob is a Disney artist who works with schools on assemblies with speed painting and for Artist-In-Residence programs,” said King. “I had worked with Rob in Andover and in Peabody, my two previous districts, and knew I wanted to bring him to Lynnfield. The thought of working with him for three days where he could inspire our staff and students, and send his message of positivity, growth mindset and creativity, while all collaboratively building a mosaic that the whole school community voted on was a magical opportunity and we did not want to miss out.”
Surette said he is “one of Disney’s Top-Tier Master Fine Artists.”
“I have been painting for their Fine Art Galleries worldwide for 10-plus years now,” said Surette. “I’ve been featured on ‘The Today Show’ twice, ‘Good Morning America’ twice, ‘The Tonight Show’ and ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show.’ Beyond the 40 hours-a-week painting for Disney, I love to visit schools, especially to perform my Speed Painting Extravaganza school assembly show. Then, as an extra offering, every once in a while I conduct Artist-In-Residence Workshops like this one at Huckleberry Hill School. This is the third such Artist-In-Residence Workshop I have conducted with Lauren King as principal or assistant principal. The previous workshop resulted in a completely viral Tom Brady/Bill Belichick Lego masterpiece, which got two million views in the first four days.”
King met with Huckleberry Hill School’s staff members last October, and said they “designed an all-school assembly to teach the students about voice, votes, elections, democracy and outcomes.”
“We also collected ideas of what our hero mascot could be,” said King. “We narrowed it down to four choices. The day before Election Day, we had our very own Huckleberry Hill School Hero Mascot Election. We transformed our all-purpose room into a polling station. Students, staff and community members came to HHS to vote for our new hero mascot. A husky was the winner. We immediately started working with Rob to design what the husky would look like. We went back and forth with Rob with subtle tweaks and sharing of ideas until the perfect design was presented to us.”
Surette said he designed the Huck the Hero husky image, and led the three-day Artist-in-Residence Workshop.
“Everyone in the school helped place the 40,000 non-Lego bricks,” said Surette. “They are identical to and compatible with Lego bricks.”
King said the Huck the Hero project was a “collaborative effort” between students, staff, school officials and community members.
“It was truly a community build,” said King.
King said Surette left with Huck the Hero “pretty much finalized,” but said he had to go back to his studio in order to put on the finishing touches.
“The process Rob used was almost paint-by-numbers, where each student got a plate and put the correct colored bricks into the correct places,” said King. “No one knew at that point what Huck looked like.”
While Surette said students placed the bricks for the Huck the Hero mascot, he said “it was only when the workshop was finished when I went back to my studio to assemble the 36 base plates to form the amazing end result.”
King said the Huck the Hero mascot was unveiled during a school-wide assembly last month.
“Students, staff and the community were amazed,” said King. “We turned the day into a Hero Arts Day. We worked with art teacher Kristen Hennessey and music teacher Kerri Fraser. Both of these staff members were imperative for celebrating arts all day, and making art and music come alive at Huckleberry. Kristen worked to build a Hero Tree and Kerri composed a brand new school song: ‘Huck the Husky.’ Both the Hero Tree and the ‘Huck the Husky’ song were revealed at our all-school assembly. The energy was palpable. Then we lifted the screen to reveal the artwork that all students, staff and community members such as Lynnfield Police, Lynnfield Fire, Lynnfield Rotary, Lynnfield Educational Trust, Lynnfield School Committee, our superintendent and assistant superintendent had worked on. It was a special and truly magical moment. Huck looked absolutely incredible, and the students cheered and clapped.”
Surette said Huck the Hero’s “grand unveiling was received in a magnificent way.”
“One teacher was brought to tears when it was unveiled,” said Surette. “One teacher said she couldn’t sleep that night. She was so excited, inspired and overwhelmed with happiness. Another teacher said, ‘I knew the end result would be great, but I didn’t know it would be this amazing.’ And the best reactions were among the students.”
Fraser said third and fourth grade students learned the “Huck the Husky” song and performed it during the assembly while being accompanied by three Lynnfield Middle School students: Acoustic guitarist Ayla Davis, electric guitarist Luke Angilly and drummer Vera Davis.
“The original song celebrates the qualities of a husky, and these are the same qualities that we have as Huckleberry Heroes,” said Fraser.
King agreed.
“As Ms. Fraser’s new song states, Huck the Hero truly captures our core values of at HHS,” said King. “Huck the Husky is loyal, trustworthy, confident and intelligent. It is a perfect reminder for our hero students!”
In addition to unveiling the Huck the Hero mascot, Fraser said students were able to celebrate art and music throughout Hero Arts Day.
“Students had extra music or art activities throughout the day,” said Fraser.
Hennessy said, “The Hero Tree was a collaborative project done with all the students in the school.”
“Each student painted and cut out their handprint to add to the tree,” said Hennessy. “The Hero Tree was a way for our whole school community to be a part of something big, much like the Lego creation that the students helped put together with Rob. It’s a way for our community to come together and connect through the arts.”
King thanked the Huckleberry Hill School PTO for funding the mascot project.
“The Fourth Grade Moving On Committee of the PTO also contributed,” said King. “Lynnfield Rotary and their Lynnfield High School Interact Club were generous donors as well as the Lynnfield Educational Trust. We could not have done it without all their support and help. We are so proud of being able to spend an entire day celebrating the arts and are so thankful for Rob Surette, and our amazing art teacher Kristen Hennessey and our amazing music teacher Kerri Fraser teacher.”