Bye Bye Big E

An Update on the attempt to change East’s mascot.

Lovan, Isabella

May 25, 2023

As you walk through the hallways of East High School,

instead of a mascot painting the halls, you see big bold red E’s everywhere. For over a decade, East
has had no physical representation of

the Scarlets. This year, a group of East
students has been working together to acquire a new mascot. With options ranging from knights to birds, this is a big mission for the East Ambassadors that will hopefully be accomplished by next year, but where are they currently with this process For over a decade, East High School  has had no mascot. This year, a group of East students has been working together to acquire a new mascot, this is something never done before in DMPS and a process totally new. So many factors go into changing the mascot like getting the input from students, teachers, and alumni then submitting the data to the district to create the mascot. Hopefully East High School will have a mascot in 2025. “I think having a mascot will bring a new light to East,” junior Kate Acosta
said. East High Scarlets are very prideful, donning their colors, contributing to school spirit whenever needed, and bringing energy to the student section. A mascot would boost school morale. When given a proper mascot said mascot will be tasked with duties of performing at assemblies and games, for instance cheerleading events and visit East feeder schools. Having a mascot is critical to forming an identity for the school and the goal is to have the mascot by next year. “It’s going to take a at least a couple of years,” junior Tabitha Hochmuth said. Everybody’s\ opinion is considered in this process. From alumni to soon to be Scarlets, everybody’s thought counts.\ Currently they’re in the early stages of this process. In late 2022 there was a survey on infinite campus asking for the student’s perspective. The survey asked questions like what students want the mascot to be and do they even want a mascot? Now that all that data is collected the East High  School Ambassadors are now working to get the teachers perspective along with the community and alumni and sending them out to district. Once all the opinions are collected, they will be working with the district and their graphic team to set vision for all the mascot options, and eventually the mascot will be chosen. “This is a new process completely.” Community school’s coordinator Madeline
Cano said. Another aspect of having a school mascot is the mascot being involved with the community. Once East gets a mascot, the mascot will be heavily involved with our feeder schools like Hiatt, Hoyt, Goodrell, and Weeks. East ambassadors showing up to their school events and raising school spirit for upcoming East Scarlets and helping with transitions going from middle school to East. Students can also gain silver cord hours for being the mascot. “Were trying to pass on school spirt to our future Scarlets,” Acosta said. School spirt is something the Scarlets pride themselves on. Participating in themed days and attending sporting events has the East High Scarlets in a chokehold
having a mascot will only boost that. The poll that took place on infinite campus showed feedback telling us 82 precent of students who took the survey said YES they definitely want East to have a mascot. 92 precent of students who took the survey said a mascot would have a positive impact at East. The following words were chosen by students as characteristics tha Scarlets represent strong, trustworthy, tough, hardworking and supportive. “I think a mascot will only benefit us as a community and make us feel like a real school”. sophomore Xavian Ounlokham
said.