McKellar Park School unveiled a home-grown legend Thursday afternoon.
Standing for respect, dignity and honour, the school’s new Thunderhawk mascot was a collaborative effort that saw students and teachers brainstorm for several months before presenting it to the school community for a near unanimous vote.
The Thunderhawk was also presented with a full back-story, which students showcased through a play they helped write and edit.
Sydney Height, a Grade 6 student, said it was quite the fun and creative exercise.
“We figured out it would be a Thunderhawk first and then we just did a lot of brainstorming. Then our teacher put it all together and we edited it,” the 11-year-old said.
“I found it fun and easy.”
The Thunderhawk replaced the Cougars, which Sydney said was a bit too commonplace a nickname and needed to be freshened up.
“A lot of other schools have the Cougars and now we’re just one school that has the Thunderhawk now. It’s different now.”
Teacher Tanja Coghill, a Grade 6 teacher at McKellar Park, said it was an important process to have the students themselves involved in picking the school’s new mascot.
“We really wanted them to take ownership in it so we thought it was important that there was something that built in that ownership,” Coghill said.
“We decided we would do a partnership with Elliott (Doxtater-Wynn) to do a legend that they created so they could take pride in the new identity that they’ve created at McKellar Park School.”
Doxtater-Wynn, an artist who teaches through the learning through the arts program at the school, where two of his daughters attend, said the school has been going through a period of change and the Thunderhawk a great symbol of unity.
“The Thunderhawk, being a mythical kind of creature that obviously doesn’t exist in real life, it became the embodiment of some of those ideas they want to have for the students.”
