The new Middle Georgia State College is about to launch its search for a mascot and school colors.
With the consolidation of Middle Georgia College and Macon State College scheduled to take place in January, the new college is going to need a new identity. A process for individuals to submit nominations for the mascot and colors now has been developed.
"The mascot and colors will be used in many ways as we launch this new institution," said Macon State President Jeff Allbritten. "We'll use them in our advertising, our messaging and, of course, for our sports teams. We're excited about starting this selection process and we hope we'll get many great suggestions."
When the survey period closes, results will be tabulated and provided to members of the consolidation implementation committee at their meeting on July 12. A sub-committee will be formed and asked to review the submissions and recommend 10 "semi-finalist" mascot names and color combinations. The survey can be found at http://scantron.maconstate.edu/classclimate/indexstud.php?user_tan=[mgsc1 <http://scantron.maconstate.edu/classclimate/indexstud.php?user_tan=%5bmgsc1> ].
Another online survey will be developed, with individuals asked to vote for their favorite mascot and school colors. That survey will be available from Aug. 1-15. At the conclusion of that period the results will be tabulated to come up with five "finalist" mascot names and color combinations. The selection of the mascot and the new school colors will be made by the college president or the implementation committee and announced on Sept. 1.
Allbritten noted that selection process will take three months, which dictated that the procedures begin now rather than during the fall semester, which traditionally has the largest student enrollment. He said the process needs to be open long enough to give all who wish to do so time to think about their suggestions, for the suggestions to be thoroughly considered, and for everyone to have a second chance to voice their opinion. He said delaying the start until mid-August would leave little time for the preparation and acquisition of new printed and promotional materials prior to the launch of Middle Georgia State College in January.
"We can't rush this decision -- it's too important," Allbritten said. "Pushing it off until the fall would mean we'd have a very small window for the submission of suggestions and their review. It would mean we'd be trying to develop our marketing approach and materials on a tight deadline around the year-end holidays. That would not be good. So, our desire to be open and deliberative in the face of the January launch meant we need to get started now."
Attempts will be made to reach as many students, faculty and staff members as possible this summer to give them - as well as the general public -- the opportunity to offer their suggestions.
It's anticipated that the new college will not keep either of the existing colleges' mascot names or colors. Middle Georgia College's sports teams are known as the Warriors and their colors are red and black. Macon State's teams are known as the Blue Storm, and their colors are blue and gold.