Here at MSMS, students often recognize that kindness does not go unappreciated, as is exemplified by the current Frogathon that just took place last week on campus. Frogathon wasa weeklong event in which senior Robert Simmons along with a secret panel of other seniors looked at the current MSMS juniors for traits of kindness and compassion to see who will inherit the famous frog suit next year. Simmons became known as frog at the moment that he changed his email ID to the amphibian and after wearing the bright green frog suit to class.

“I was pretty obvious about my like of frogs (with the frog suit and all), so then I changed my email ID to “Frog” once I learned that was a thing… The name stuck from there,” Simmons said.

The title of “frog” became more than a nickname and Simmons decided that he would pass down the suit to a junior as a “legacy gift,” hoping to create a new tradition.

This event of passing down the suit came to him during the MSMS Seniors’ trip to the lock and dam. “During the seniors’ (Stennis) Lock and Dam trip (and the juniors’ ACT test day), I thought about having an event of sorts to pass it down. However, if I was making an event, I wanted it to also bolster kindness and recognition in the MSMS community,” Simmons said.

This devotion to the kindness is what Simmons is looking for in the next holder of the frog suit. “I’m only looking for someone who is pleasant in general,” Simmons said. Names of potential winners of the frog suit were compiled by recommendations of juniors, and these recommendations were reviewed by Simmons and his panel of seniors to see who would be the best receiver. The winner of the Frog suit will be revealed May 3 during the weekly doorprize giveaway, and there will also be a raffle for those who recommended other juniors in Frogathon. Simmons said that he implemented a raffle to those who recommended other juniors to promote a recognition of kindness, “In a perfect world, I trust that people would freely comment about the kindness of other people without any incentive. However, I’ve spent enough time procrastinating and trying to get responses for Stats surveys to know better than that”.

The prizes that will be raffled off include: a $50 Best Buy gift card, a Bluetooth earbud headset, and a cake baked by Dr. Morgan. “I figured that I could get more people involved by offering higher-quality prizes, so I scoured for a while to try and gather things that many others might want.  Plus, who wouldn’t want a cake made by Dr. Morgan?” said Simmons.

Although the recommendation process of Frogathon is over, Simmons recommends MSMS Seniors and Juniors alike to come witness the coronation of the 2016-2017 Frog.