The Pelican

While the look of the Loomis Chaffee mascot has evolved, the spirit of the pelican remains steadfast. A 1966 LOG article lauded the pelican because of its self-sacrifice in nurturing the young. Headmaster John Ratté wrote in 1991 that the campus pelicans carved in stone “peer [ing] down at us from the pediments above doorways” ask, “How far will you go in giving of yourself?
 

Loomis Chaffee Work Jobs

In 1970, Headmaster Fred Torrey and faculty member Chuck Vernon revived Mr. Batchelder’s original vision that all students at Chaffee and Loomis would be engaged in “the useful labor of the school”. Now faculty and students participate in a vigorous program that mirrors Batchelder’s hope that all would gain “the discipline of life [that] comes from the normal acts of living.”
 

Scrooge

Many alumni recall his annual rendition of this classic, but Ratté was not the first on the Island to bring Scrooge to life. In 1943, the LOG remarked that Mr. Batchelder’s “impressive reading” of this story was “as much a tradition as the senior path.” He shared Dickens’ holiday tale with the very first Loomis students in December 1914 and continued doing so until his retirement in 1949.
 

Spirit Banners

Today’s annual Kent Day banner competition began in the 1970s but football rivalries and spirit banners went hand in hand for many years in the school’s history. The Hartford Courant described the 1958 Kent Day, including a banner accompanied by “a giant mechanical skunk” and “painted life-size pictures of the football players”. Deerfield Day, popular in the 1930s, also inspired banners, flags and pep bands, activities curtailed by the war economy of the 1940s.
 

Holiday Help

Loomis Chaffee joins efforts with Windsor Social Services to bring holiday cheer to those most in need. This echoes earlier projects including the 1915 Loomis boys’ work to “deliver Thanksgiving dinners to needy local residents”. During the 1920s, Chaffee students donated Christmas baskets filled with food and clothing to Windsor’s citizens, and the school gave an annual children’s holiday party during the difficult years of the Great Depression.
 

S.N.U.G.

When the Student Endowment Fund’s Tuck Shop moved from the east end of Founders to the basement of Palmer Hall in 1938, it sealed the fate of the S.N.U.G. Students Nestled Underground came to represent the atmosphere of each successive snack bar, first in a space under the Wilbur Dining Hall and then in the Student Center, constructed in 1989. Today’s S.N.U.G. is a popular gathering place, and home to the Student Activities group, the Work Job office and the mailroom.