College of DuPage roadrunner

The College of DuPage mascot is a bird nobody expects in Illinois, and its bronze likeness explains why. The chaparral, another name for the roadrunner, became the school's mascot because early students rushed between leased classroom sites across DuPage County in the years after the college opened in 1967.

The eight-foot bronze statue, called Chappy by the college, was unveiled in May 2013 outside the Student Services Center on the Glen Ellyn campus, the Daily Herald reported. Omaha sculptor Matthew Placzek was commissioned in August 2012 after college president Robert Breuder received a promotional postcard showing a mascot Placzek had made for Creighton University. Placzek said he wanted to portray movement, the fierceness of the eye and competitive spirit. He built a clay model over a steel support, had it cast in bronze, and the work took nine months.