Published: Tuesday, Mar. 17, 2009 / Updated: Tuesday, Mar. 17, 2009 01:40 PM
Panthers, Sharks to prowl new Fort Mill schools
After nearly a month of work, narrowing down options and voting on favorite choices, Fort Mill's newest elementary schools - Sugar Creek and Pleasant Knoll - have mascots, school colors and a school logo.
Sugar Creek Elementary School, which opens to students in the fall, will be the home of the Sugar Creek Sharks. School colors are blue and white. Pleasant Knoll Elementary School, which also opens to students at the beginning for the 2009-2010 school year, will be the home of the Pleasant Knolll Panthers. Their school colors will be black and blue.
The school mascots and colors were voted on by future Sugar Creek and Pleasant Knoll students and announced last month. On Feb. 23, students at Nation Ford and Fort Mill high schools were given the opportunity to create a logo representing the new elementary schools' choosen mascots.
The logos, school colors and mascots will be incorporated on the schools' marquees and stationary.
After the high school students worked on the challenge for two weeks, a committee of Sugar Creek and Pleasant Knoll teachers, administrators and students, along with their families, met at the district office last week to select the winning designs.
Taylor Elliott and Jimmy Carpenter, both from Fort Mill High School, had their designs selected. Both received a $50 Target gift card. Elliott's logo was choosen for Sugar Creek Elementary and Carpenter's was chosen for Pleasant Knoll.
"You can do a lot with the drive of your school spirit by focusing on the mascot and school colors," said Scott Frataroli, who will as principal at Sugar Creek elementary School. "You can have spirit days, but for us, it gives an Identity to the school. You identify the kids with being part of that school. It goes back to that team mentality. They feel like they are part of something special, and that helps with their overall attitude."
Because of the high volume of impressive entries, the judges also chose five honorable mentions. Taylor Janak, William Rebain, Kendra Preston and Brittany Farmer, all of Nation Ford High School, and Tyler Mastera from Fort Mill High School all received a $10 Target gift card.