Dominion High school is very close to revealing a new mascot, a project that students, staff, and ATLAS have been anticipating for a couple of months now. Principal Dr. John Brewer states that the new mascot is expected to be unveiled at the start of the next school year.

447 students voted on Thursday, November 20th and the results finally closed in on the top 3. 20.4% of students voted for the Dragon AI assisted concept, 17.9% voted for the drawing of a Knight, and 11% voted for the Bear which was also an AI assisted concept. 

The push for a new mascot has been building for years. Brewer shared that Dominion’s mascot was created by a class in 2006 and that it has reached the end of its lifespan. Brewer states that the mascot was “great 20 years ago, but its design now lacks a little relevance for our current student body.” He also adds that “being a Titan is a non tangible kind of concept” so it has been challenging to come up with a new mascot.

Student involvement has been significant to the process. Earlier this school year, students submitted mascot ideas during advisory, including both hand drawn designs and AI-assisted concepts. SCA narrowed down these ideas and concepts before sending them out for a full student body vote. 

Casey Gernerd, the student activities and engagement coordinator, explained that SCA was chosen to narrow these down first because of its role in student leadership and its close work with Atlas. Brewer explained that while students have already voted on the winning mascot concept, “professionals have to turn that concept into a design that’s workable.”

According to Gernerd, the cost of creating the new mascot and finalizing the exact design will be significant. Even though the exact amount hasn’t been finalized, the estimates range from $18,000 to $20,000. ATLAS and athletic boosters are expected to provide much of the funding. “We have a very active ATLAS and athletic boosters, and they’re very excited for this,” Gernerd says. 

Regarding the similarities between Dominion’s new mascot and already existing mascots, Brewer said, “I don’t think we’ll end up with a duplicate. Our concept may look a lot like something else,” and adds, “it’s imperative that we make it look distinguishable from the John Champe Knights or Broad Run Spartans.”