OKEMOS, Mich. — Okemos Public Schools has narrowed down its new mascot options to ten.
The options include:
- Badgers
- Bears
- Coyotes
- Eagles
- Grizzlies
- Ocelots
- Ospreys
- Otters
- Owls
- Wolves
Okemos Superintendent John Hood said the student mascot committee narrowed it down to those ten based on which submissions fit their vision and values and checking with the Capital Area Athletic Conference to make sure these options were open so Okemos can have its own identity.
The window for residents of the school district to vote on their top three choices closed last week.
The ten will be narrowed down to three to five options and a new survey will be given to students in the district in fourth through twelfth grades for a vote.
"We've done two community surveys and had over 7,000 responses on our last one, including I think over 3000 by alumni alone," Hood said. "They really weighed in loud and strong on the names they wanted us to consider and now we're kind of shifting to the student voice to make sure that our current students feel validated in the process, and that they have some say and what their identity will be."
Hood said the 'O' logo will be changed, but the Carolina blue and maroon colors will stay because the student committee wanted to make sure alumni still felt connected.
"They really saw that as a nod to the past that alumni would stay connected with that, that those were the same colors that we had when they were here," Hood said.
The district was given $213,663.50 from the Native American Heritage fund to help with the $400,000 cost of replacing the mascot.
Hood said a recommendation will be bought to the board at the Jan. 24 meeting and hope to have the final logo and mascot presented before spring break in April.