BY MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
The Savannah School District is in search of a new mascot, and it is calling on the communtiy for help.
The Savannah School Board voted in April to retain the “Savage” nickname, but discard the Native American imagery and symbolism associated with the mascot.
A mascot design contest will begin today and run through October 22nd.
Communications Director Jess Gillett says the mascot is more then a visual image.
"The mascot is more then just a picture to be used as a district, it's really something that unifies our whole community," Gillett tells St Joseph Post. "So we want everybody to have a hand in that and feel like they had a chance to play a part in that, so this is kind of the best way to do that and try to get people excited about it."
Students, faculty, alumni and the Savannah communtiy are all eligible to enter.
Gillett says while the mascot represents the current students, alumni has always been important.
"Savannah has always been a place of pride, and the alumni carry a lot of that school pride along with them" says Gillett.
And with that school pride comes a various amount of talents.
"Also going through this process, we have several alumni who are graphic designers, artists, who are in related fields, and they have reached out and they're excited to help be a part of the process" Gillett adds.
Entrants can work in teams as well as individually and multiple entries are allowed. You can find the form to enter the contest with this story on stjoepost.com, you can also find the form at the Savannah school.
Gillett says once the contest ends, the process to decide the winner will have many layers.
"We will work very closely with our current high school students, they will have a voice in kind of the narrowing down process," Gillett says. "From there the middle and high school student bodies will vote on it, we'll work with that group of students and the board to narrow it down to our top 5 picks."
And then from there the school district will invite the community and all of its students to work together to narrow it down to the top pick. An online submission form can be found HERE, the form can also be found at the Savannah school.