After efforts to change the ‘Red Raider’ mascot at Spaulding High School were shot down by the Rochester School Board last September, Connor Lempke did not give up. Instead, the rising senior decided to take the issue all the way to the state legislature.

“I want our school to be an environment where everyone from every background can be accepted and not have to look at something that they see as a caricature of themselves,” Lempke said.