Manhattan High has opened up the discussion surrounding the mascot yet again, making an attempt to finally give the student body what was voted upon during December of 2017: a secondary mascot. 

During the vote, students were given the option of choosing no mascot, a sunflower, a bison or a wolf. A total of 889 students, or 63%, voted to have one of the mascots, while 37% voted “none.” The highest vote getter was the wolf. 

Now, StuCo is working with principal Michael Dorst to finally begin the process of executing the vote, which was similarly voted upon by the school board. 

According to student body president Hannah Higgins, the first steps they plan to take are with Tribe and the cheerleaders. In order to follow Kansas State High School Activities Association rules, all mascots must be a part of the cheer squad, meaning that they need to have the team’s approval for the process to continue.

“[Dorst] wants to implement the wolf more than we have been doing,” Higgins said. “There’s a few things we have to figure out.”

Although the process for the mascot was started years ago, the school has needed time in order to follow through. With the new change in school leadership, getting the wolf to actually exist has taken more time than most expected.

“[The process] kind of started and then it stopped,” Higgins said. “I think starting it back up again is going to be the goal in the next year.”

Along with taking the beginning steps to making the wolf mascot, StuCo and administration have similar goals in what they want to accomplish. They want to make sure that the right people approved it while also making sure that students and teachers are happy. They also want the process to be quicker than what it has been so that students have an opportunity to see their vote in action. 

“Hopefully we can get started this year,” Higgins said. “Obviously, I don’t know what it might look like next year but as long as we can get started on it and be in communication with the cheer team then that’s our goal.”