JAMESTOWN, N.Y. — There are now two finalists competing for the new nickname at Jamestown High School.
The school announced Wednesday that it's down to Catamounts or Red & Green, which was actually the school's nickname from 1905 to 1935, before the “big cat” logo made its debut in the 1940s.
The nickname committee recently eliminated Jaguars from consideration.
“The committee made the decision to eliminate Jaguars so that we could avoid confusion internally with Jefferson Middle School,” Jamestown High athletics director Ben Drake said in a statement.
“Additionally, our ‘big cat’ imagery would need adjustments in order to resemble a jaguar.”
Catamounts is most commonly associated with the University of Vermont, and is another name for the American panther, cougar, mountain lion, or puma. Western Carolina is also known as the Catamounts.
Jamestown high dropped the Red Raiders nickname earlier this year and has been using its original big cat mascot for the time being. Students voted during the first few days of school, and now a community feedback form is available through the end of the month on the district's website.
The survey will remain open through Sept. 30. After that, the committee will make a recommendation to the school board. That might be in December, according to the school district.
“We are appreciative of the community’s input throughout this process,” Drake said. “As we move forward, the committee has taken the public’s voice into consideration in narrowing down our options and we are excited about these two nicknames that we’ll be presenting to our school community.”
**