Mascot finalists announced
Park College has announced three concepts to be considered by students, faculty and staff to be selected as the college’s next mascot.
Three unveiling ceremonies were held Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in conjunction with NPC Spirit Week. Costume contests were held each day at noon in the Gerald Fisher Campus Center.
The finalists, in the order they were announced, are Explorers, Rangers and Nighthawks. Voting on the three finalists opened at 12:30 p.m. Thursday.
Emails with voting directions were sent to students, faculty and staff after the last finalist was announced. Voting will close next Thursday.
Each recipient of the email is allotted one vote. The new mascot will be revealed during a pep rally in the NPC Wellness Center gymnasium on Oct. 26.
“We are excited about choosing this,” said Jason Hudnell, dean of enrollment. “We are excited about whatever mascot we end up choosing. It’s going to be your mascot. It’ll be what we use to represent not only Garland County, but we will be representing the rest of the state.”
Hudnell conducted an informal poll during Thursday’s announcement to gauge interest in the three finalists. Only a several supporters cheered for the Explorers and Rangers options.
Most of the students in attendance voiced support for the Nighthawks option.
The final three mascot concepts were selected from a top 10 compiled by members of the Student Government Association and college administrators. The public was able to submit concepts from June through August. Almost 50 percent of the concepts were submitted by students.
Other top 10 selections were Bathers, Bears, Bison, Lakers, Mountain Lions, Thoroughbreds and Thunderbirds. The college competed as the Lakers in various sports in the 1970s, 1980s and the early 1990s.
The school’s team colors were green and gold when it was Garland County Community College. The color scheme continued after the sports programs ended. The colors remained through a merger
with Quapaw Technical Institute in 2003.
A rebrand campaign in 2015 modified the college’s color scheme to feature shades of blue, black and white. Graphic artist Cari Elliott prepared concept boards to illustrate how the final design could appear for each of the finalists.
Elliott said the final design will feature a mainly gray mascot with elements of the main blue shade from the college’s logo. She explained nighthawks are actual birds that live in Arkansas with sharp, angular wings, a bright stripe of white near the tips of their wings and a notched tail.
“We’ll take these traits and combine them with a full-sized hawk to create the look of an imposing foe,” Elliott said. “The fierce logo illustrations, like those we have included in our concept board, would be highly versatile with the ability to be drawn and redrawn at multiple angles and styles. Additionally, the nighthawks are known for their buzzy, ‘peent’ call, which could be developed into a call for the NPC Nighthawks.”
The college used imagery of patriots logos and mascots as references for a possible park ranger mascot.
“For the logo illustration, the iconic badge of a park ranger could be used like a shield emblem,” Elliott said. “The hat would come forward over the face slightly, casting a mysterious dark shadow over the intimidating ranger. The costumed mascot would be mostly our gray with accents of NPC blue and have a face similar to those pictured in our concept board.”
A potential explorers logo would use gray for the body and armor with accents of blue throughout. The Explorers submission was grouped with a mascot for “Conquistadors.”
“Our explorer isn’t wearing a safari hat, but a full suit of armor like the Spanish explorers that traveled through Arkansas in the 1500s,” Elliott said. “The Explorer illustration would bear an NPC flag and sit nicely within a shield emblem. The costume would have its face covered completely by the Spanish helmet and may be in a full or partial suit of armor.”
“We are very excited about the three finalists and can’t wait to see what the students choose,” Hudnell said. “The response from the community has been phenomenal and we greatly appreciate all of the suggestions. I really believe that out of these three ideas we will have one that NPC and Garland County can really get behind.”
Themes were designated for each day this week on campus. A costume contest for Team Spirit Day was held before the Nighthawks concept was announced on Thursday.
The week’s other themes were Zombie Day, Nerd Day, Western Day and Movie Day. The college will close Spirit Week with a free showing of “Finding Dory” at 1 p.m. in the gym.