The SLCSD Board of Education’s Mascot Subcommittee is collecting concept art until May 1, when the committee will meet again to finalize the options and begin school community voting. The committee is leaning toward having a ranked choice voting system.

School board member Justin Garwood, who reintroduced the idea of designing a mascot for the district last year, said he hopes to have a final design by the end of the school year. Depending on how fast the turnaround is, he said they probably won’t have logos and merch ready for the fall sports season, but potentially in time for the winter.

He said the mascot will definitely be used on shirts, hats and banners, and depending on the final design, potentially on jerseys and a physical mascot costume. That remains to be seen, though, he said.

SLCSD has been the Red Storm since 2001. Before that, school teams played as the Redskins, a name that was retired by the school board over two decades ago. The insulting slang term for Native Americans was deemed too offensive at the time. The district was not the first to make the change, but it was ahead of the curve in terms of replacing offensive sports team names.

The Saranac Lake school board is now accepting concept art for one of the three finalists for the Red Storm’s new mascot. There are three Adirondack animals in the running, including a red fox, moose and red-tailed hawk. The above designs are not final, the district is still accepting submissions and the final choice will be used as reference for the ultimate mascot look. (Photo provided)

It was a hotly debated decision, but in July of this year, the New York state Education Department will officially ban all Native American mascots for schools in New York.

But Garwood said it’s always been challenging to find a visual representation for the Red Storm.

Garwood graduated from SLHS the year before the name change. Now he has children of his own and he wants to see his kids sporting Red Storm gear when they grow up in the district.

Garwood said they received 75 submissions with 40 unique ideas, a satisfyingly high turnout for him.

The subcommittee met on Feb. 21 to narrow down the list from 40 to 10, keeping any idea with more than one person suggesting the possible mascot. On March 14, the committee met in a public session to pare that down to three with community members. This meeting can be viewed on the district’s YouTube page.

The Saranac Lake school board is now accepting concept art for one of the three finalists for the Red Storm’s new mascot. There are three Adirondack animals in the running, including a red fox, moose and red-tailed hawk. The above designs are not final, the district is still accepting submissions and the final choice will be used as reference for the ultimate mascot look. (Photo provided)

They landed on the mascot being either a red fox, a red-tailed hawk or a moose.

Garwood said through the process it became clear the mascot should have “two key elements” — it should be an Adirondack animal and the “storm” theme should be represented in a clear way, to show they are still the Red Storm, and not a team named after the animal.

He said they had seen examples of this in the art, like a cyclone of red-tailed hawks, or a moose with lighting bolts for antlers.

The committee is asking artists to submit original concept renderings for one or more of these finalist animals to mascot@slcs.org before May 1.

Concept art already submitted will be retained, but people can add more renderings if they want. Garwood said they’ve received some “amazing artwork.”

The colors should be red and white, or grayscale to be developed into color at a later time. Garwood also said simplicity is best for these designs. Having art that’s too intricate complicates the image.

“As you develop your ideas, we ask that you keep the following quote in mind, as has been suggested by multiple community members as a possible slogan related to the mascot: ‘Fate whispers to us: You cannot withstand the storm. We call back: WE ARE THE STORM,'” reads a news release from the committee.

While students are involved in this process, submitting many mascot designs and taking part in the voting, it is not a student project. The school board agreed that tying the logo to a specific student can complicate things, and the district plans to get a professional to do the work, with input from the community.

Mascot concept art will not be used exactly, but will inform the final mascot.

Garwood said he hopes this mascot is something that can “stand the test of time” and be an image for the school to rally around. While they can’t please everybody, he said he hopes most people are happy with the final outcome.

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History of the Red Storm

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In 2001, SLCSD changed its team name in a 6-1 vote with a lot of input from the community, as well as local Indigenous people. The district then selected a new name in a student poll, with the Red Storm earning 39% of the vote.

There was conversation back in the day about a logo or mascot, but nothing caught on.

The football team needed something for its helmets, so they adopted a decal of the “SL” letters intertwined. Other SLCSD teams tried hurricane emblems. But the interlacing SL letters became the standard logo for teams.

He said he remembers when he was in school, people were rocking Redskins gear everywhere he went. Now, he feels he sees a lot less Red Storm gear around town. There are shirts with the words on them, but there’s not a definitive image attached to the Red Storm aside from the “SL” logo.

Garwood said they are keeping the district’s “SL” logo. This mascot is meant to supplement that logo, not replace it.