Moses Lake HS to Change Mascot After Tribes Deny Use of "Chiefs"

Moses Lake HS to rename mascot (Google street view)

You may recall over the last year a Democratic House Rep from Northwest WA, who never sponsored any other legislation during their tenure, was able to get a bill passed that would ban any WA public school from using a Native American mascot.

Moses Lake is the latest to change its name

The bill did have some exceptions, which included if the school was located on, or very close (within a certain distance) to a reservation or tribal lands; if the appropriate tribe gave permission to continue using the name, or if there is a long-standing tradition of approval. Two of these criteria especially apply to Kamiakin HS in Kennewick, it is still using the name Braves. The school was named after the famous Yakama Indian leader, Chief Kamiakin, and the KSD consulted with the tribe prior to the school opening in 1972. However, the use of the Brave mascot is not set in stone, it's in a bit of a holding pattern.

However, the Colville Indian Reservation authorities did not allow for the continued use of Chiefs by Moses Lake HS, so the DIstrict will also have to come up with a new name for Chief Moses Middle School, and Frontier Middle School will change from Warriors to Spartans.

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What will the new macot name be for Moses Lake HS?

After nearly 1,000 entries, which were narrowed down to Jets, Raptors, Mustangs, and Lakers, the name Mavericks was chosen. The School Board voted unanimously to adopt the new name. The school will now begin the expensive process of rebranding all its athletic gear, wear, school logo schemes, and more. Gone will be the spear on the helmets, we don't know if rebranding includes changing school colors.

Moses Lake helmets (courtesy Hudl.com)

The cost of the rebranding has not been released.

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