We get a little closer to establishing an identity for the folks at Hero Prep today. Before, all they had was a horribly generic mascot (the Wildcats, as established in the “Bart Star” episode of The Simpsons), but now they have a namesake. This one took about as much work to decide upon as Herman Kahn did for Mad Scientist High.
Like many of the great figures of the 20th century whose names I recognize, I found out about Norman Borlaug through The West Wing. In the episode “In This White House,” Martin Sheen’s President Bartlet mentions him by name, and goes into some detail about his development of the dwarf wheat, which contributed greatly to Mexico, India, and Pakistan’s dramatically improved wheat harvests in the 1960s and 70s. Borlaug won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 and was, by all accounts, a righteously decent human being. He seems like the perfect guy for a school of would-be world heroes to emulate.
Now, given the less-than-level heads possessed by most of our cast, Elise is certainly the most likely candidate to reach across the aisle and get to know someone from her “rival” school. Even less surprising is the fact that she kept the news from Newton as long as she could.