The new high school’s mascot will be a leaping gold cougar,
complemented by the schools spirit colors
– teal, black and white.
Gilroy – The new high school’s mascot will be a leaping gold cougar, complemented by the schools spirit colors – teal, black and white.
Bunton Clifford Associates, the architect firm hired by the Gilroy Unified School District to build Christopher High School, revised the school’s mascot using input from middle school students who will be part of the 2009 inaugural freshman class. Thanks to the contribution, architects proposed gold, teal, black and white as the spirit colors and a leaping cougar as the mascot.
“Basically, we got ratification of the spirit colors from the incoming class of (Christopher) High School,” said Paul Bunton, president of the architecture firm.
In a March version, the mascot was purple, set off by school spirit colors of silver and white. The architects chose the animal and color scheme, which resembled that used by the Sacramento Kings basketball franchise, in part because they were unique for the Tri-County Athletic League, to which Gilroy High School belongs and which the new high school will join.
When this color scheme was presented to the district board of trustees March 15, trustees did not object to the colors, but noted the lack of community input.
District architects then brought the colors to the high school’s steering committee, which organized for sixth-grade students to comment on the color scheme. The students suggested different colors, which were then incorporated into the current color scheme. The gold, teal, black and white colors proposed at a July 5 meeting are those used by the Jacksonville Jaguars football team. Both the color scheme and mascot are unique for the Tri-County Athletic League.
The spirit colors will not only determine what athletes will wear, it will influence the buildings they play in and around. District architects will incorporate the colors and mascot into the gym and athletic fields provided the board approves them at a meeting not yet specified. However, the spirit colors will not influence the exterior of the building or the main academic buildings, Bunton said.
While the mascot stayed the same and the colors were similar as those proposed in March, the process was worth going through, he said.
“I think it was good process,” he said. “I understand it was a very engaging process and everyone felt good about it coming out of it.”
