Introducing 'The Wolf-Pac': Mahopac Students Choose A New Mascot

MAHOPAC, NY — Mahopac students have chosen a new mascot name to represent school pride.

Students in the district were asked to choose between the Mavericks, the Mustangs and the Wolf Pac. The election results were revealed during a Mahopac School Board meeting on Thursday and the students ultimately chose to refer to themselves as the Wolf Pac.

In January, the district assembled a committee to come up with options for a new mascot and logo for the students to vote on.

The district is under pressure from the New York State Education Department, which told school districts in November to drop Native American symbols or depictions from their mascots, team names and logos by the end of the school year or forgo financial aid. The state Board of Regents finalized that regulation in April.

The s0-called "Dignity for All Students Act" bans all Native American mascots and related imagery.

In December, the Mahopac Board of Education decided to only put an "M" on the artificial turf field being replaced, instead of the M plus arrow and feather the district has used for years on sports fields since it dropped the headdress imagery of the indigenous people of the Plains.

The Board of Education still has to officially approve the name that students chose.