March 2008 Issue

Scripted For You

Who would dot the ‘i’?

For generations of fans, that was the biggest surprise as the Ohio State marching band performed its legendary Script Ohio, an integrated series of maneuvers in which musicians spell out the name of our state during football games.

Now, a 17-year-old has expanded the script into an e-enterprise that may well fund her own college career.

It started with a laugh around the dinner table. “We said it would be such a joke on our friends,” Kristin Wood recalls, “to have the OSU band script their name — and misspell it.”

The idea nagged at the Mason High School junior. “My dad is a Photoshop guru, and I said that if we could put it together and sell these, we could make tons of money.”  Daughter and father Joe, a 1984 OSU grad, received licensing rights and Wood headed north to her first Buckeye game.

From his shot of band members forming “Ohio,” Joe created an alphabet that the duo can personalize for note cards, posters and calendars.

One order pushed the limit: Beat Michigan. “For that one,” says Wood, who’s learning Photoshop from dad, “we’ll fit it in.”

To place an order, visit Wood’s web site, www.greatcollegegifts.com. — Betsa Marsh