10/23/2020
South Family,
Thank you for another great week! We have some exciting news to lead into the weekend.
We are pleased to announce the Ravens as the new mascot for South High School.
The South High School mascot has been the Rebels since the school’s founding in 1926. The Rebels is a reference to the southern Confederacy in the Civil War. Nearly 100 years after the school’s founding, the Rebels no longer seems appropriate, acceptable, or an accurate representation of what South stands for or should reflect in its mascot. For this reason, the leadership at South determined that the mascot should be updated to better represent the school’s values.
Over the past six months, South leadership completed the following research tactics to get a pulse on community input for the new mascot.
Focus groups with athletes and coaches, PTSA, board members and staff members.
Online surveys of students, parents, community members, alumni, faculty and staff resulting in nearly 1,000 responses.
Development of a mascot selection committee consisting of Denver City Council Representative, Musical Art Sponsors, Athletic Coaches, Alumni Board members, PTSA Board members, Student Body Co-Presidents, Student Athletic Leadership Team Representatives, Student Board of Education Representative, teachers, and Current Building Administration.
As a result of this robust community feedback, the Ravens were selected as our new mascot. We believe that the Ravens represent the South community in a number of ways. Ravens are smart, clever birds that are known to be strategic problem solvers. They are empathetic, loyal creatures that form lifelong bonds. And importantly, the raven is an inclusive animal -- it has a long history of being held in high regard both in Native American culture and others throughout the world, and ravens are not associated with any particular gender or race.
We appreciate all the dedication to this process from our community and we look forward to presenting our new logo in the coming weeks. Go Ravens!
Sincerely,
Bobby Thomas
Principal, South High School
We are Denver South
Home of the “Ravens”