Bloomfield Township

Students to re-vote on new high school mascot

By Chris Jackett
C & G Staff Writer

BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP — Although students hoped to know the results of voting for the new unified high school mascot and colors Jan. 31, the district is holding a “re-vote” this week, due to some confusion.

“As the voting concluded, we discovered different students had different perceptions of what the different mascots would be,” said Ed Bretzlaff, assistant superintendent for instruction. “Chargers could be a lightning bolt; others thought it’s supposed to be a warhorse. Others thought the Blackhawk would be a bird of prey or something else. The confusion on the Royals was, what’s a royal? What would be the graphic representation?”

Bretzlaff said the intended mascot behind each name is a horse for Chargers, a black hawk bird of prey for Blackhawks and a crown or similar tie-in for Royals. As all three are also names of professional sports franchises in San Diego, Chicago and Kansas City, respectively, much of the confusion stemmed from San Diego’s lightning bolt uniforms, Chicago’s Native American logo and Kansas City’s lion mascot.

“We’re trying really hard to make sure this is student-led and student-driven,” Bretzlaff said. “We’re looking forward to having this resolved.”

Andover High School Principal Rob Durecka said the new round of voting will last from Feb. 6 through Feb. 13. Seventh- through 10th-graders in the Bloomfield Hills Schools district will have the opportunity to log in to Moodle and vote for their preference of the final three mascots.

The new school colors were already selected, but will not be announced until the mascot is chosen. The color combination finalists included black and blue; blue and yellow; and silver, black and purple.

“The colors are set, but we want to announce them at the same time,” Bretzlaff said Feb. 3.

Once a mascot is selected and announced alongside the new school colors, to be effective for varsity squads in fall 2013, students will likely be asked to design potential logos for the new mascot.

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Chris Jackett at cjackett@candgnews.com or at (586)279-1110.