Yes, we did this last year and it made a huge impact on our school in regards to a sense of increased community and spirit. We did have a contest. What we did was, in the November timeframe to coincide with national elections, have each class select one mascot submission. For example, say eleven kids in a teacher's class filled out the form (that we created) and their mascot ideas were discussed in the class. The class then voted to submit one mascot idea as the class proposed mascot. That meant that we had over twenty total submissions. We then had a meeting with the staff and the PTO. We used weighted voting, meaning that each voter received three votes, one worth 5 points, one worth 3 and another worth 1. They were allowed to place these in three different mascot selections, but could not put more than one vote in any one submission collection. They did not have to put in all three votes if they did not want to. After we counted the votes and came up with the three most popular choices, these were then taken and we had the children vote individually for which mascot they liked best. Most votes became the new mascot and the class(es) that submitted that mascot received an ice cream party.
We did not have the children do anything in regards to the art. This was something that, due to timing, I created myself, and then had approved via the Principal (who had inputs from staff - including the art teacher). I did have to make numerous changes to come up with our final logo. We then had new t-shirts and hooded sweatshirts created, just in time for Open House, where we unveiled the winner of the mascot contest and the new logo/apparel. Sales were crazy!!!
Next the Principal had a mascot naming contest using similar rules as the mascot selection. In the end our new mascot is "Hunter, the Husky"! and we now have t-shirts, water bottles, hooded sweatshirts, coffee mugs and ball-caps, and are working on new magnets and fleece pullovers.
Friday is spirit day at the school and the children (and staff) all wear their school colors/apparel. The Principal and the PTO split the cost of a holiday gift for the staff last year, which was colored shirts with our new logo embroidered. They wear these on Fridays.
Lastly I pushed for a mascot uniform. Surprisingly I found some resistance with this idea, but talked the committee into it when I proposed my running a new fundraiser (a poker tournament - offsite from school) specifically for obtaining the mascot uniform. Now "Hunter" comes to every school function, dances the cha-cha slide with the kids, kicks the soccer ball around with the Kindergarteners at Field Day and is, as the kids say "The coolest thing"!!!
Hope this helps.
PresidentJim
