We joked about making them our new school mascots, but we never realized how much of an impact they would have on our student body. “They” refers to the small vulture family that made a home in the courtyard near the portables.

Around the beginning of last April, English teacher Mrs. Dickson saw two black vultures circling around the courtyard. Soon enough, the vultures made a nest and laid two eggs.

“They were not responding to my shooing,” Mrs. Dickson said. “Upon closer inspection there was one vulture that hovered over a rock.  I shooed her out to the concrete bench and what seemed to be a rock, soon became obviously clear was an egg.”

As we waited for the eggs to hatch, we took the time to research and familiarize ourselves with the two vultures. The Migratory Bird Act of 1918 protects black vultures from being removed or harmed. Thus, we allowed the vultures to continuing nesting here without disturbance. Since Westwood was going to be home to the vultures for a while, we even gave them names: Victor and Veronica.

In honor of our new vulture friends, we designed shirts. The proceeds from selling shirts went towards the National Wildlife Federation to plant trees for birds. We raised $1000 for the cause.

In the middle of May, Victor and Veronica welcomed a baby vulture into the world. After asking the student body to help us name the baby, we chose Vincent (Vinny for short; we don’t know if it’s a girl or boy). Unfortunately, the other egg did not hatch.

Vinny spent the summer trying out his wings and staying near the nest. By Monday, Aug. 17, the last of Vinny’s baby feathers disappeared. Mrs. Dickson reported that on Tuesday, Aug. 18, Vinny had left.

After four months of growing up at Westwood, Vinny left his nest, just like the seniors of Westwood, who spend four years maturing and learning before “leaving the nest” and going on to bigger things.

Black vultures are known to return to their birthplaces to lay their eggs. Could this mean the “Homecoming” of Vinny?