The recently passed Senate Bill 21-116 will ban the use of Native American mascots at public schools in Colorado. That means Montrose High School's mascot, the Indians, will have to go. This is also true for Centennial Middle School’s mascot, the Braves.
A new mascot will be decided over the next 12 months, a process that will apparently involve community input.
Montrose Daily Press Staff Writer Anna Lynn Winfrey explains how the ban came about and what will be required for schools that are facing a change.
Do you have any ideas for the new mascot? What should represent the school going forward?
I like the Eagles, but instead of the Mountain Lions, how about the Montrose Cougars? The Cougars seems a bit catchier and easier to say in a cheer than Mountain Lions. And maybe for Centennial Middle School you could do the Raptors, Bears or Wolves ? Just my thoughts.
The school district will hopefully be sharing details about the community input process later this week. Do you have any questions for them?
I'm going to float this out there... Why not name the high school: Black Canyon High School?
We then could be the Black Canyon Bears, Black Canyon Badgers, Black Canyon Tunnelers, Black Canyon Wolfpack, etc. Who knows?
Black Canyon sounds tough to me, and new logos have to happen. Doing a name change seems easier to do at this point. Just my $.02.
This will be unpopular and slightly off topic, but I always felt if Montrose was named Black Canyon, CO it would help our tourism industry, give better location information, and it sounds pretty cool! When you Google for "Montrose" out of state, it often points to the California rock band. The same is not true for BC. There are no other cities or towns called Black Canyon. It is 100% unique.
How about Wolfpack for a team name? They work very well as a team to bring down their prey.
As a nine time Varsity Letterman at MHS I will be sorry to see the Indians go.
I myself like the name 'Bison' and the animal itself is intelligent, big, strong and very athletic, they may even be good wrestlers, I haven't checked.
If not the Bison, I like the Raptors, Calle Hale's pick.
Another quick update: The schools will likely start looking for community input on the mascot in the winter. There's a hard deadline of June 1, 2022 for the final change, but the rest of the timeline is up in the air. The school board estimates the change will cost $500,000 to $700,000, but the schools can apply for a state-funded grant to cover the costs.
I'll nominate "Bucks". No, I'm not from Milwaukee. Unlike geographically-derived names it requires no explanation. A simple nod to the area's majestic wildlife and wild places. It has plenty of graphics potential- the popularity of the stylized Browning decal on truck windows attests to that.
I've been thinkin' I also like 'Rangers'...Western connotations- Park Ranger, Forest Ranger, Ranger Road S of town, my dog Ranger...
Try on “Montrose Whistle Pigs”! Prairie Dogs have strong community bonds and exhibit unending loyalty to their compatriots! ”Montrose Prairie Dogs“ seems a little to cute and cuddly but “Whistle Pigs” has a ready for action and we’ve got your back sound!
I think that we should let the students choose, we’re the ones who are going to be wearinh shirts with the new mascot ton them, the ones who represent the mascot and the school.
Soooo why isn’t centennial changing theirs hm? Theyre still going by the braves...weird
Centennial will also have to change their mascot. Sorry for any confusion, I’ll update the original post to make that more clear.
Hi @Krelei, both schools — Montrose High School and Centennial Middle School — will undergo changing of the mascot concurrently.
The utes if it absolutely has to be changed
Hey Krelei! Utes also refers to a Native American tribe, so it likewise would be excluded. The Ute nation actually worked heavily on the bill.
how about Rimrockers or Cowboys
I don't care what they call it. I will always be a Montrose Indian.
I have suggested The Raptors to people at work as the area is well known for fossil digs and raptors are a feather's dinosaur found in our region. We could keep our color scheme and the feather motif.
We asked the same question to our Instagram followers recently. Here are some of their ideas: Mountaineers, Cowboys, Mammoths, Spartans, Foxes, Giants, Wolverines, Prairie Dogs, Harrison (after boxer William Harrison "Jack" Dempsey), Humpback Chubs (the fish), Mountain Lions, Malinois (the dog breed), Coyotes and Eagles.
At the same time, some people responded with the name of the original mascot, implying that they disagree with the required name change and would like it to remain the same. One person also suggested Utes, which would be prohibited for the same reason as the original mascot.
Any of these names jump out at you? I'm a personal fan of Mountaineers and Mammoths.
I still think endangered butterflies or even bummgelbees or honey bees even bees need are help
Ah that's an interesting approach. Name the mascot after an endangered species to raise awareness and even get some support for it. The community's not going to let its mascot go extinct, after all.
I will be so glad to see this outdated and humiliated mascot go! I like the Montrose Badgers, but probably only because I had one in my pasture last winter and they are not afraid of anything especially me! When I tried to chase it away from the bunny hutches it came at me growling. Doesn't that seem appropriate for a sport mascot?
UPDATE: The bill has been signed by Governor Polis, and without a formal agreement with a regional tribe to keep the name, Montrose High School and Centennial Middle School will have to change their mascots by June 1, 2022.
how about monarch butterflies they might be going extinict
Since we seldom (if ever) see Monarch butterflies here, I'd lean more toward Swallowtails, the large, yellow butterflies that we DO see here in Montrose.
How about something that ties into the Black Canyon? Black Canyoneers or just Canyoneers?
Or focus on birds or animals found in our region. Great Blue Herons, Bald Eagles, Golden Eagles.
Or to keep the "red" mascot theme, how about the Red Mountaineers?
Canyoneers has a nice ring to it. It's easy to remember but also not a common mascot.
I expect the district will try to stick with the current color scheme, but that could change, too. Eagles is a strong idea!
I like canyoneers and eagles however Delta has the Eagles as their mascot already so I doubt Montrose would go with that. I agree that there is a lot invested in the current red/black/white color scheme and it would be quite costly to go with a mascot that significantly diverges from those colors. I like Red Mountaineers - there aren't a lot of other native ideas that fit with the current color scheme.
I like Red Mountaineers -- good suggestion!
Isn’t that like the red skins? assuming skin color?