High school mascot list narrowed

The Daily Inter Lake

What do you think of the Glacier High Avalanche?

The Glacier Wolfpack has kind of a ring to it.

The Wolverines of Glacier High would make a formidable foe, no?

All three mascot names are in the final running to represent the students of Glacier High School when it opens in north Kalispell in fall 2007.

And, as far as colors are concerned, navy blue is running strong, in combination with silver or red or maroon.

A committee of parents, students and school officials working on the mascot and school colors has narrowed down a hefty list of mascot suggestions to come up with these ideas.

Now, there's a better-than-even chance that the Kalispell school board will have a final committee recommendation when the board meets on Nov. 8.

The school board makes the final decision.

Until the committee's next meeting on Nov. 7, members are chatting it up with their neighbors and fellow School District 5 residents to get a feel for what will fly.

Community opinion, mixed with a list of five criteria, got them this far.

The mascot criteria:

-It needs to be related to the Flathead Valley.

-It can't already be in use, specifically by another Class AA school, a state university or nearby high school.

-It has to be unique, but not abstract.

-It has to be marketable, so a visual image can be created.

-It needs to be gender-neutral and politically neutral.

Colors follow from that, with some stiff limitations by their very nature.

The committee agreed not to co-opt distinctive colors from nearby schools, such as Whitefish's green or the blue of Columbia Falls or Bigfork.

They didn't want to tread on the colors already used by other Class AA schools.

Although the Avalanche seems to be pretty popular, according to committee discussion, coming up with a readily identifiable logo is posing a challenge.

And colors, still under consideration, are far from firm.

So if you'd like another chance to have your say, here are the committee members and the populations they represent:

Quin Stevens, Linderman School seventh-grader; Matt Russell, eighth-grader, and Carlie Andrews, ninth-grader, both at Kalispell Junior High; Jordan Nieman, a sophomore at Flathead High; Mary Connolly, Evergreen schools parent; Cindra Barbee, Russell School parent; Andrea Call, Edgerton School parent; Dewey Michaels, a Russell School parent who also represents Universal Athletic (to address the most cost-effective color schemes for uniforms); and Mark Dennehy, athletic director and Flathead High assistant principal.

Reporter Nancy Kimball can be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com