When did we earn our Tiger stripes? Exploring USN branding
Ever wonder how USN got its colors and branding? Celeste Green ’27 and Abigail Manoukian ’27 visited the school Archive to find out. This article originally appeared in The Peabody Press, the High School student-run newspaper.
By Celeste Green ’27 and Abigail Manoukian ’27
Every University School of Nashville student recognizes Columbia blue, garnet, and Tigers as the colors and mascot symbols of our school, but was it always this way? And where did this branding come from?
These questions are surprisingly difficult to answer due to the fact that, unlike some of our peer schools, USN does not have a formal uniform besides sports jerseys. Thankfully, USN vintage sports uniforms and yearbooks can reveal some information.
In 1888, long before USN even existed, there was a school called the Winthrop Model School. This school was run by George Peabody College, which may not have had athletic jerseys, merchandise, or color photos to leave for posterity.
However, it did have a yearbook. USN’s official archivist, Kat Trammell ‘99, traced our current school colors from a 1908 yearbook titled: “The Garnet & Blue.” This yearbook is the first documented mention of USN’s iconic colors in history, meaning they have been part of our history for 116 years.
Join the USN Habitat for Humanity Club at 1 p.m. Sunday, November 16 for the 16th Annual Discount Tire Habitat for Humanity 5K at the River Campus. Register here. Tickets are $10 for children under 10, $15 for Middler and High Schoolers, and $25 for adults.
University School of Nashville High School Quiz Bowl teams faced each other to earn top spots in a tournament at Vanderbilt University. Congratulations to Lucia Gellert '27, Liam Mooney '28, Jasmine Horwitz '26, Jackson Green '26, Oren Schwartz '29, and Mason Lack '26.
USN Mission: University School of Nashville models the best educational practices. In an environment that represents the cultural and ethnic composition of Metropolitan Nashville, USN fosters each student’s intellectual, artistic, and athletic potential, valuing and inspiring integrity, creative expression, a love of learning, and the pursuit of excellence.