Corner Canyon High mascot, school colors selected

When fall 2013 rolls around, Corner Canyon High School will proudly sport the newly announced school colors of navy, silver and white. And the students will be known as the Chargers.

The Charger mascot name was decided Jan. 17, when the Canyons Board of Education selected it from a list of potential mascots. It will be the only Utah high school to use the mascot.

“A charger, or a horse, is part of Draper’s history and still is,” Canyons Board of Education member Sherril Taylor said. “From farming to the equestrian park, the mascot reflects the community.”

However, the unanimous vote wasn’t without controversy.

The mascot votes listed the Cougars, Diamondbacks, Falcons and Raptors as the top vote-getters, but during the process, after parents and community members raised concerns with the name “Cougar,” the Cavaliers and Chargers were also re-added to the list for board consideration.

In a Jan. 17 memo to the school board, Superintendent David Doty wrote, “Since the last Board meeting, we have received numerous email messages and phone calls from parents and patrons in Draper asking us to reconsider the inclusion of ‘Cougars’ as a mascot option. Opposition to the ‘Cougars’ focuses on a concern that the mascot, combined with the school’s blue/white/silver color scheme, will be too similar to Brigham Young University. Many also have commented on the negative double entendre of the word ‘Cougar.’”

He further wrote that the board should consider Cavaliers and Chargers, unique mascots to Utah high schools.

“We didn’t want to start the new high school off with a community divided and with four other schools having Cougars as a mascot; it wasn’t a clear identity for our new high school,” Taylor said. “The horse and the name Corner Canyon reflect our community. We’ve made great choices.”

Fellow board member Paul McCarty agreed.

“The Charger was selected for several reasons,” he said. “While it’s true that we received input from some residents who were worried about the connotation of the word ‘Cougars,’ believe me, it was a small, secondary concern.”

McCarty also said the board needed to make a decision instead of sending it back for a final student vote.

“We took input from the kids and it does say that the board would make the final choice. We’re on a schedule since the contractor needed the mascot and the colors to incorporate into the building design,” he said.

In December 2011, the Canyons School Board of Education asked 4,300 students living within Corner Canyon High School boundaries to narrow the mascot list and decide school colors in a vote. Of those, 1,186 cast ballots, with the colors navy, silver and white receiving 501 votes.

“It was a clear choice with the way the students voted for the colors. A lot can be done with them,” Taylor said. “I’m very happy we engaged the students and the community in the process.”