School History: Our Traditions

The Leprechauns

There are conflicting stories about how Lynbrook's mascot became the leprechaun. In May 1997, Lynbrook Elementary School celebrated its 40th anniversary. Carolyn Kruse, a reporter for the Connection Newspaper, was in attendance. Kruse wrote an article about the event, in which she stated: "There was no mascot until 1979, when Andrea Henderson won a contest with her suggestion of leprechaun." During our 50th anniversary celebration in March 2007, a brief history of our school was printed in the program booklet. This history states that the contest to choose the mascot actually took place in 1976, and that student Wee Lane Yee's drawing of a leprechaun was chosen as the winner. Both versions of the story record that originally the leprechaun did not have a name. A contest to name the leprechaun was held in March 1980, and the winning name was "Lucky." We are unsure when the leprechaun's name was changed from Lucky to Lenny.

Photograph of an article from The Times newspaper printed on March 13, 1980. A little girl is kneeling next to two leprechaun stuffed figures. The photograph caption reads: Lynbrook Student Gets Lucky. Tracy Stockton, a third grader at Lynbrook Elementary is pictured with the little leprechaun she won in the Name Our Mascot contest. The winning name, Lucky, was submitted by some 40 students, and Tracy was declared the winner when her name was picked from a hat – St. Patrick style of course. Lynbrook’s leprechaun mascot was recently presented to the school by the PTA.

School Songs

During Lynbrook’s very first year, we had not one, but two school songs. The songs were printed in the program given out at our school’s dedication on May 5, 1957.

Photographs of both school songs printed in the dedication program. The first song was composed by Sandra Corsette and was sung to the tune of God Bless America. The lyrics are: Lynbrook, Oh Lynbrook, School of our hearts! Guide our youthful, And faithful, Through the years, Without fear or despair. From the youngest, To the oldest, Be our beacon so bright. Lynbrook, dear Lynbrook, Our guiding light. The second school song was composed by Ann Bass and was sung to the tune of America the Beautiful. The lyrics are: Oh Lynbrook School, Oh Lynbrook School, You are the school for me. It’s here we learn so many things, Like arts and history. Oh Lynbrook School, Oh Lynbrook School, We are so proud of you, Standing there with our great flag, The red, white and the blue.

A third school song was composed by John Rhodes in 1972, and remained in use until at least the mid-1980s.

Photograph of the 1972 school song. It is unknown what tune the song was sung to. The lyrics are: On Backlick Road so proud and tall stands the school to which we give our all. To our alma mater fine and true, we raise our song unto you. Sing, oh sing for Lynbrook School, your honor is our golden rule. All hail your banner waving high and free, it stands for liberty.

These are the lyrics of our current school song:

 

We are proud to be the Lynbrook Leprechauns!

We are proud to be the Lynbrook Leprechauns!

We do reading, math, and writing,

And learning is exciting,

When you get to be a Lynbrook Leprechaun!

 

Many kids from other countries join our school,

And we know that education is the tool,

That will help us all together,

To make the world much better.

We are proud to be the Lynbrook Leprechauns!

 

We learn science and new technology,

We have music and art, and there's P.E.,

The surprises here are many.

We are trying to catch Lenny...

But he's really quite a clever Leprechaun!

 

We are proud to be the Lynbrook Leprechauns!

We are proud to be the Lynbrook Leprechauns!

We will learn and we will grow,

And even when we go,

We will always be the Lynbrook Leprechauns!