COVINGTON, Va. – The community now knows the mascot that will represent the newly consolidated Alleghany Highlands Public Schools.
Monday during a ceremony, a cougar was unveiled as the district’s mascot, along with new logos and school colors – light blue and navy.
“I’m a big fan of the cougar on the rock. We think it’s a very striking image,” said Alleghany Highlands Superintendent Kim Halterman.
Before the final decision was made, students got to voice their opinions on what they wanted to see represent their school, and many were pleased with the final product.
“I really love the colors. I picked them when I was voting so I’m excited for new jerseys and stuff,” said Alleghany High School Freshman, Kiera Lowman.
“Honestly I like the colors. I think it’s a really nice pattern and I think it will look really good on a football jersey,” said Covington High School Junior, Rocklynn Phillips.
The central office of the city and county school districts combined last Summer.
This Summer, classes, and athletics will consolidate bringing changes for students like Phillips.
His current school, Covington High, will be renamed to Covington Middle School and be the one middle school for the district.
Next year, Phillips will be attending and hopefully playing sports for Alleghany High School, the one high school for the district.
“I was very nervous about it at first. I didn’t know if I was going to play or not, hopefully, I’ll play, but it shows who wants it the most, because who wants it the most shows who’s competitive and who wants to win,” Phillips said when asked about the consolidation.
While change is on the horizon for these students and the entire community, school leaders are optimistic the transition will continue smoothly.
“It’s a lot of change actually for our entire community and it’s been really important to us to communicate along the way with that. And to continue to hear from our stakeholders about that. So we really want this to be more opportunities for our community and more cooperation and collaboration,” said Halterman.