{"id":545356,"date":"2026-04-07T11:10:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T11:10:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/545356\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T11:10:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T11:10:14","slug":"predators-mascot-visits-portland-second-grader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/545356\/","title":{"rendered":"Predators mascot visits Portland second grader"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n        <a href=\"https:\/\/mainstreetmediatn.com\/author\/MADISON+COOK\" onclick=\"_paq.push([&#039;trackEvent&#039;, &#039;Author Byline View&#039;, &#039;MADISON COOK&#039;]);\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">MADISON COOK<\/a><br \/>For The Portland Sun\t\t<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"564\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image0-8-1024x564.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1899133\"  \/>Nashville Predators mascot Gnash and Channel 2 reporter Silvia Casta\u00f1eda with AJ Walker, a student at Watt Hardison Elementary. WATT HARDISON ELEMENTARY<\/p>\n<p>A very special Portland second grader recently received a big surprise and an even bigger visit from\u00a0Nashville Predators\u00a0mascot Gnash.<\/p>\n<p>Take Gnash 2 Class winner AJ Walker, a second-grade student at\u00a0Watt Hardison Elementary School, was honored with a memorable visit as he continues recovering from cancer treatment. The special moment was even featured on\u00a0Local on 2\u00a0with\u00a0Silvia Casta\u00f1eda.<\/p>\n<p>Watt Hardison Principal Phyllis Gilman said, \u201cWe are very proud of AJ. We\u2019re glad he\u2019s back in class. He\u2019s been out for a while, and having AJ recognized and honored today means a lot to Watt Hardison Elementary School, as we have been some of his biggest cheerleaders since kindergarten. It means a lot to have the support of News 2 and the Predators today.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>AJ and his classmates welcomed Gnash and members of the Predators Energy Team for a day full of fun activities in the school gymnasium. Gnash, Peppy the Panther, AJ and several classmates enjoyed games such as gym hockey, \u201cAre You Smarter Than a Second Grader?\u201d and chair racing before celebrating with a lunch from Dos Santos Tacos.<\/p>\n<p>Take Gnash 2 Class is presented by the Nashville Predators in partnership with Dos Santos Tacos, creating memorable experiences for students like AJ and celebrating perseverance, encouragement and community support.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MADISON COOKFor The Portland Sun Nashville Predators mascot Gnash and Channel 2 reporter Silvia Casta\u00f1eda with AJ Walker,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545357,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5119],"tags":[5,2409,231,5281,4,2410],"class_list":{"0":"post-545356","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nashville-predators","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-nashville","10":"tag-nashville-predators","11":"tag-nashvillepredators","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-predators"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116363122945513752","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}