If you were walking through the Senior High last week, you probably saw some guys walking around with signs on them. These signs, decorated with various feathers and sparkles, proudly display the wearer’s name. Is this some sort of new fashion statement? No, they were part of English teacher Mr. Nathan Devine’s annual chivalry project.

The chivalry project is a project in which a senior boy must act as a knight to one of the girls in the class by performing various deeds for her and wearing an “amulet” made by the “lady.”  

Brave knight Emory Maxwell said he had to “write her a ‘scroll’ and place it in her locker every day, carry her bags, wear her amulet, recite her a poem in public, create a poem for her, and defend her from the naysayers” in service to his lady, Mary Parker Plunkett.

The project is one part of the class study of Geoffery Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, a work in which the ancient concept of chivalry plays a big role.

When asked about the origins of the chivalry project, Mr. Devine said, “About 10 years ago, people would remark on the death of chivalry, so we imagined a way to reinsert ourselves into chivalry.” He also said, “It puts the knights into the mindset of someone else and get them thinking about someone else” and that, “by designing amulets and doing things for their knights, the ladies focus on the virtuous content of their actions.”

Overall, the chivalry project is a way for Jackson Prep students to insert themselves into the mindsets and values of Chaucer’s time.