BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — The Iroquois Central School District is moving on with its process of choosing a new mascot, announcing they will hold an online vote next month to narrow down the potential options.
School officials said their committee reviewed 343 suggestions for their new mascot and cut the list down to 25 names. An online voting period will be held from Dec. 1-11, which will be used to finalize the top five options.
The link to vote will be posted on the school district’s website at the start of December, with one vote per person allowed.
After the community vote narrows down the list to five names, a final vote is scheduled to take place from Dec. 18 to Jan. 5, which will determine the new mascot. A similar process for logo design will follow, with the final product expected to be introduced around March 2024.
The name change process stems from the New York State Board of Regents prohibiting public school districts from using Native American names, mascots and logos in April, giving districts until June 30, 2025 to make the transition. Initially, schools had until the end of the 2022-23 school year to change over.
The Iroquois school district’s current mascot is the Chiefs, with a logo featuring a Native American head with feathers.
The 25 new mascot options that will be voted on starting Dec. 1 are:
- Badgers
- Broncos
- Champions
- Chargers
- Coyotes
- Defenders
- Fire Birds
- Gladiators
- Grizzlies
- Hurricanes
- Inferno
- Iron Horses
- Lightning
- Mavericks
- Otters
- Phoenix
- Rangers
- Red Hawks
- Red Storm
- Stallions
- Thunderbolts
- Titans
- United
- Wild
- Wolves
Adam Gorski is a Buffalo native who joined the News 4 team in 2022. You can find more of his work here.
