Students vote Rutland Ravens as new mascot

RUTLAND, Vt. (WCAX) - Rutland High School sports fans may be cheering on the Ravens in the future.

Rutland City students in grades three to 12 voted on a new mascot this week, giving 57% of the votes to the name Ravens. A student committee of about 20 has been working with school administrators for months. They first selected options based on community input. Then, using criteria based on the school’s community values they narrowed down four potential mascot names. The students voted on four names in January. The top two finalists on the ballot this week were the Ravens and Royals.

Jenna Montgomery, a Rutland High School junior who took part in the committee, says her capstone class discussed the change and students seem to accept it. “It seemed like people were fairly civil about it. People definitely had their preferences and I definitely had a lot of people come towards me with their preferences -- very strongly worded -- but I feel like a lot of people are really realizing it won’t negatively impact them that much,” she said. “It was kind of a big thing. A lot of people were talking about and I’m glad now it will start to just kind of settle and just be another thing. I feel like a lot of people were dedicating a lot of their time to either trying to make the change happen or oppose the change.”

Rutland has not associated with the Raiders name since the school board voted it out in November. If it approves the new name, the change will happen immediately.

The suggestion now goes to the school board next Tuesday. If approved, the process of designing a new mascot logo will begin.

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