You Ask, Rosemont Patch Answers: Choosing a Mascot

When you're the new high school sports team in town, you need to get a rugged image out there ahead of you to intimidate those you will be competing against. You have to let schools that have been around long enough to establish a reputation for toughness know that scoring a goal against this mighty animal is not going to be easy.

Maybe that is why, when  was established, the fierce wolverine was chosen as its mascot. Pound-for-pound, the small, bear-like animal should not be underestimated, nor should the team that took its name.

Sue Lindfeldt was office manager at Rosemont High School in its early days. She now serves in that position at American Legion Continuation High School.

"Rob Jones was principal at  that year," she said.

They had been assigned the job of finding a mascot for Rosemont, which was nothing more than bare ground and a set of architectural plans.

"He and I figured, why should we be the ones to choose?" she said.

So they worked with students to find a mascot name.

"Since sixth-graders at that time would be the first graduating class at Rosemont, we asked them what they would like to be called," she said.

The school would not officially be christened until 2003, but the Jones/Lindfeldt team prevailed upon Sacramento City Unified School District administration to get started a year earlier.

"They put portable classrooms on the parking lot," she said. "Those could be used on other campuses later." 

So the freshman class started school in prefab boxes. When the school was completed the next year, a new batch of freshmen was added to those who had been bumped up to sophomore status. It would be four years until all the grades would be filled.

Input from the call to name a mascot poured in from the various sixth-graders that would eventually become the first Rosemont High School graduating class.

"We got from 700 to 1,000 responses," she said. "Some were goofy things, some were real."

The suggested names were narrowed down to the top five. The kids were then polled to come up with their favorite from the finalists.

"Then it came down to the Wolverines and the Raptors," she said. "I prayed it would not be the Raptors."

The power of prayer apparently worked because the Wolverines won the day.

Oddly, the Sacramento region has a diverse wildlife population, but who had ever seen a wolverine here?

"One was found in Truckee," Lindfeldt said, thankful for the added validation.

After the mascot was firmly established, the school needed colors. The University of Michigan was also known as the Wolverines, and wore Navy Blue and Gold.

Lindfeldt said that a survey of Sacramento area school colors found that none had blue and gold as their colors, so Rosemont adopted them as their own.

In the seven years since the school was established, the Wolverines have more than lived up to the ferocious image. Teams have appeared in league playoffs, and some have won league championships: Wrestling (2007, 2008); Track (2007, 2008); Baseball (2009); Softball (2009); Girl's Soccer (2007, 2008, 2009) and Boys Soccer (2007, 2008).