What’s yellow, has golden eyes, sharp teeth and spotted fur? A Forest Lane Academy Jaguar, of course.
Photography by Amani Sodiq
Until this fall, nobody had ever seen the Forest Lane Academy Jaguar. That all changed when a six-foot-tall Jaguar arrived on campus for the first day of school this year.
Assistant Principal Rebecca Herrera has been with Richardson ISD for 12 years and Forest Lane Academy for eight. The Title I school had 625 students in the 2024-25 school year according to Texas Education Agency PEIMS reports, with 593 economically disadvantaged and 199 listed as emergent bilingual.
For students oftentimes dealing with uncertainties outside the classroom, teacher-led efforts to make sure even the little things are there can often make a big impact, she says.
“We have a high number of students who are either transient or without housing, and that’s something where a lot of times, we’re having to figure out, even though that is the situation that they’re in, how can they feel safe and comfortable and ready to learn when they’re entering our campus,” Herrera says.
Herrera lives by the three Es: Equity, Empowerment and Excellence. Those three words exemplify the “world-class experience” Herrera says each Forest Lane student deserves.
The school doesn’t have a parent-run PTA. Instead, teachers take over fundraising and event planning for the school. As a result, FLA staff can have trouble going beyond the basics for their students. So, to help create that “world-class” experience for the school, Herrera launched a GoFundMe in June seeking to raise $570 for a new mascot suit.
Photography by Amani Sodiq
“I feel like we’ve talked about it for a couple of years of wanting to have a mascot, and this summer, and just as we were talking as a staff, we were really wanting to be intentional about creating just experiences for our kids, one that maybe they don’t have elsewhere, but two, just an experience that helps them feel prideful and joyful when they are in the building.”
Herrera says she expected the fundraiser to be a “dud.” However, in less than three days, the campaign met its fundraising goal and she was able to order the suit.
“One of my teachers posted it, but then I eventually got a screenshot where a community member had posted it to some type of community page, saying, ‘Hey, we should really try to make this happen for this campus,’” Herrera says. “And I don’t know who that person was, but they posted it, and within a couple of hours, it was fully funded to the point where I had to close it off so that we weren’t getting more money than we actually needed.”
The mascot was present for the first day of school, and Herrera says students received it warmly. A name is still under consideration, with “Jag” and “Jaggy” both in contention.
Herrera is originally from Dallas and graduated from Bishop Dunn High School. Her father was also a teacher, and she had plenty of experience with going above and beyond as an educator from an early age.
“Some of my earliest memories are with just being in his classroom, helping him to be able to set it up, but also just the care that he had towards his students. I remember when it was Christmastime, we would put winter presents together for them, or if we were out at a store, he was going through the dollar section and getting little pocket dictionaries for them.”
Thirty years later, Herrera is doing the same for her own students.
“I think it’s awesome, because I think that it shows how she values just every experience for our kiddos,” fellow AP Jennifer Kim says. “She doesn’t want our kiddos to not have an experience that other students may get at other schools. With big experiences like field trips, she just is going to do what she can to make sure that our students get the same experiences that you may get at other schools.”
