Oak Forest HS Teacher Paints Bengal Mascot

“I was in the right place at the right time,” Oak Forest High School Social Studies teacher Mike Brown said. He was referring to a conversation he overheard between Maintenance Head Jean Burke and another staff member while walking to the lunchroom about the crumbling mascot adorning the center of the foyer floor. They were talking about having to remove the old mascot but they didn’t know what to put in its place. “I told them I could [paint] it,” Brown said.

Brown is not a stranger to painting. As a basketball coach, he regularly painted the concrete blocks each time the basketball team won a game. “It started as a way to motivate the team and for players to see their season build in a positive way.”

A few hours later, Oak Forest High School Principal Dr. Brad Sikora walked into his social studies classroom. He asked if Brown really wanted to try to paint a new mascot to crown the foyer floor center and Brown agreed to do it.

Labor Day weekend found Brown spending about 23 hours of his personal time painting the new mascot. On Friday, he painted the base white and drew it out with a picture and a tape measure. Saturday, he painted all of the black markings on the Bengal tiger, and on Monday, he painted the Vegas gold and red of the Oak Forest mascot, with the assistance of his wife, Oak Forest High School Spanish teacher Amanda Brown.

The results are spectacular: a freshly painted and epoxied Oak Forest High School Bengal mascot leaps out at visitors from the center of the front foyer. This project is bigger than his previous bricks but Brown is pleased with the results.

Oak Forest High School Senior Class Sponsor Joanne Hellinga was thrilled when she found out that Brown had agreed to paint the floor. The Senior Class had already decided to contribute their class gift to hiring a professional to replace the old crumbling mascot. Since they didn’t have enough money, they knew it would be years before they would see the new artwork in place because it would take several classes to donate the monies needed to hire the artist. Now the senior class can feel pride that they contributed to the senior class gift and that they can enjoy looking at it all year long.

Principal Sikora was very happy with the new mascot artwork. He said, “Mike is the ultimate team player, always willing to help OFHS in any way possible. In the case of the Bengal, Mike used his artistic ability to upgrade the foyer which was in great need of improvement as the Bengal is the first thing all of our visitors see when they enter the building. Mike is a great teacher, talented artist, and a Bengal through and through.”