Wanted: Mascot for El Camino College

Union Editorial Board @eccunion

Colleges and universities across California, in the bleachers, at stadiums, have a mascot to show their school support and to cheer the supporters.

Mascots entertain students and employees who are at the game and sometimes take the spotlight away from the match.

El Camino’s lack of a mascot during home games is not beneficial to students and players. The college should take the initiative to create a mascot to cheer up and bring the spirit of the Warriors to the game.

Previously, El Camino had a mascot known as the “Warrior,” taking inspiration from the traditional Native American warrior.

However, after reconsideration and a series of redesigns, teams across the U.S. have changed the stereotypical portrayal of Native Americans, which was deemed offensive and vulgar. Including the Cleveland Indians and the Washington Redskins.

It has affected professional and college teams, including El Camino.

Since then, the college has yet to make any statement for a change or removal, leaving students and staff wondering what happened to their mascot.

The impact could be seen firsthand in home games, where there’s no more mascot to cheer on the players and the crowd, and this leaves them separated from the game and from the Warrior spirit that the mascot brought within.

According to Olympus Mascots, the psychology behind a college mascot in general is “they feel like part of its community because it’s the one thing they shared with every other student.”

College mascots help promote college branding and identification of the college. It also adds personification, engages students and faculty in the promotion of events, and allows a better relationship between staff and students.

For instance, California State University Dominguez Hills has the “Toro” as its mascot. The college uses it as a marketing tool for social media, implementing the mascot on their Instagram stories and making him perform acts for events, bringing an identity to their college.

As mentioned before, mascots not only help El Camino with home games but also helps the student to have a better identification with the college.

One solution to choosing a mascot would be to submit ideas and illustrations to the college and let students and employees decide on the best submission.

Not only would it satisfy staff for a college identity but especially the students who would directly help to bring a new mascot to life.

El Camino needs an identity. The Warriors name just isn’t enough, as it doesn’t bring any form of connection, and it can be considered only as a place-holder nickname for many students.

Students and employees could choose something unique to the area or the college for the mascot’s name.

Warriors is used across multiple colleges and universities in the U.S., including Westmont College in Santa Barbara and Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Warriors could be seen as not original by many, especially students who may face struggles relating to the college’s generic nickname.

In comparison, Cerritos College uses “Franco Falcon” and Orange Coast College with “Pete, the Pirate,” both being very different from other colleges and American professional teams.

The mascot would be a great addition to everybody. It would benefit students and staff, which sometimes cross issues in promoting events to students or watching El Camino over the bleachers at home games.

EL CAMINO COLLEGE