The Bullfrog License Plate

The bullfrog came to be when Mr. Kaeser brought up the idea of having a state frog in 2002. Kaeser says “choosing the Bullfrog was easy; Bullfrogs are found everywhere in the state and a lot of small towns in Ohio were having frog jumping contests.” The students began making calls and writing letters to the Ohio House and Senate. In 2008, a school in Cleveland created some competition and wanted the spotted salamander to be the state frog. This slowed everything down, however, a compromise was made. The state frog is the Bullfrog and the state Amphibian is the Spotted salamander. In 2010, this became official, and the bill was passed by Ted Strickland.

In 2019, they were approaching the 10th anniversary of the Bullfrog bill when Mr. Kaeser thought of the idea to have a Bullfrog license plate. Todd Arnold, an art teacher at Willard Grizzell Middle School, drew an original drawing with his students. The seventh and eighth graders started writing letters and making phone calls about why there should be a Bullfrog license plate. Mr. Kaeser explained, in his words, “The number one thing is that I wanted kids to learn how bills become laws and how all bills were an idea at one time.” The students at Grizzell learned just that, as Senate Bill 163 was passed on October 23rd by Governor Mike Dewine’s signing.

The eighth graders that originally started this project back in 2002 are in their mid-30’s now, and will get to see soon that the bullfrog has made it onto a license plate. Kaeser hopes “it starts a conversation and raises awareness in the environment. "