If you’ve gone to Rocky for any amount of time, you’ll have noticed the many different flags hanging in the entry hallway. It’s difficult to miss them, but you may not know why they are there.
A rumor has been going around that the flags are related to the U.S. relations with other countries, and due to recent conflicts with Russia and other countries the flags are subject to change soon, but this story is false.
“I have no idea why the rumor started; the flags are not meant to be political in any way. They are meant to be a welcoming sight. No single flag has ever been added or removed for political reasons,” Dr. Woodall explained.
The true reason for the flags hanging in the entryway is in no way political. Long before Dr. Woodall was the principal of Rocky, a list was made containing every student’s country of origin, and to make the students feel more welcome in their school, the flags of the 32 most common countries on the list were displayed.
“Every five years we rerun the list, and find the new 32 most common countries of origin, and we change the flags according to that. We changed the flags in 2021, so we have around three years to go until we change them again,” Dr. Woodal added.
Currently, the flags include Australia, Belize, Brazil, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Germany, Ghana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Libya, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, Thailand, USA, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam.
Hundreds of students walk through that hallway every day, and Dr. Woodall hopes that every student can look up and find themselves among the flags and feel welcomed into the school, where they can be comfortable being themselves.
The flags in the hallway were never meant to be political. They have a much more inviting reason for hanging in the hall. If you have any questions regarding the flags, feel free to see Dr. Woodall for more information.
