Hodge Elementary School in Imperial has a new mascot – the hawk.
Previously, the school’s mascot was a trailblazer.
“The name was fine, but we had a hard time finding a tangible object (to symbolize a trailblazer) for students to identify with,” principal Theresa Jansen said. “Students identify with animals.”
Jansen said a hawk was a great choice for the school mascot because the bird is frequently seen in the area.
“It really fits the demographics. We see hawks flying around here all the time,” she said. “We’re in a rural setting, so we see birds flying around constantly.”
Staff and students at the school, which is part of the Fox School District, have been talking for years about changing the mascot, which was adopted around the time Hodge opened in 2003, Jansen said.
“We’ve had conversations about changing it for a few years now,” she said. “We met with parents, students and staff and proposed several different options. We got input from them to see what they were interested in, and then we voted on it.”
Jansen said students and staff are excited about the new hawk mascot.
“When we do different things, like cross country, in order to cheer for them and identify with something tangible, it (the new mascot) helps bring them together,” she said. “We’re the Hodge Hawks now. We’re pretty excited about it actually.”
Jansen said the school has a hawk logo it’s using right now, but it could change.
“It’s not set in stone, but so far, everyone seems to like it,” she said.
While the school was deciding on a new mascot, it also picked blue and green as the school colors, Jansen said.
“We had blue, then red, so during the process (to choose a mascot), we solidified the colors,” she said.
The Fox Board of Education signed off on the mascot change at its Nov. 3 meeting.
