Next year, when attending Manhattan High sporting events, people may see a wolf roaming the sidelines.

The USD 383 Board of Education approved the use of the wolf as a physical mascot for MHS on Wednesday night. The board passed the motion on a 4-3 vote, with president Darrell Edie, Marcia Rozell and Curt Herman dissenting.

Leah Fliter, who voted in favor of the mascot, was adamant that this issue had drug on too long.

“It’s merely a person in a costume,” Filter said, “not something we need to cointieu to debate.”

However, as Rozell pointed out, having a wolf could cause some confusion, as Woodrow Wilson is already the wolves. MHS leadership doesn’t see this having a huge impact.

“I think they are creating their own physical mascot for their school,” principal Greg Hoyt said, “and we certainly don’t want to tread on their toes, so I think we need to wait until Woodrow Wilson has made their move, and then I think we need to have some more discussion with student leadership.”

Though the announcement comes during the middle of basketball season, Hoyt doesn’t think the mascot will be at games during this school year.

“I wouldn’t say that it couldn’t be,” Hoyt said. “I would say that would probably be overly ambitious and that we really probably ought to set our sights on a fall 2018 implementation and unveiling.”

First though will be determining what the mascot will look like and how it will be implemented.

“I think the idea that it is just going to be a physical mascot in a costume for someone to wear at a game, that has been the intent,” student body president Lily Colburn said, “and will be the intent moving forward, but exactly how it works at games, I think, is up for interpretation. Whether that’s part of the cheer program, or something else entirely, it still has to be determined by the school.”

Since Hoyt expects the mascot to be implemented in the fall of 2018, the current senior class will not likely be students with the mascot. However, Colburn still thinks the seniors can be helpful to the process.

“I think that seniors can provide some really good insight,” Colburn said, “because we do have this idea of perspective and knowing and experiencing all four years at MHS, kind of how our athletics work already.”

Though not much has been decided for the future of the mascot, Hoyt is sure of one thing.

“I’m just happy to have that part done and through,” Hoyt said, “and I applaud our student leadership for all their work in this.”