Dec. 2021 | Vol. 01 Iss. 10
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Bountiful/West Bountiful
YOUR C O M M U N I T Y N E WS PA P E R
BOUNTIFUL HIGH EMBRACES NEW MASCOT Byline
By Roger V. Tuttle | roger.t@davisjournal
BOUNTIFUL—Change may be inevitable, but that doesn’t make it any easier. Just ask Aaron Hogge, principal of Bountiful High School. He oversaw the change of a beloved “Brave” mascot to the unknown Redhawks in a little over a year. In the summer of 2020, there was quite a bit of social media talk about the racist nature of the Brave mascot. “As a principal I was sensitive about any negative talk about our mascot because we try to inspire in our students accepting and loving everybody and our students do that beautifully, but it concerned me that [negativity] might be a feeling out in the community,” Hogge said. “As the talk became heightened, some political officials got involved in it and I got quite a bit of communication, emails, phone calls, visits and my first reaction was, we’re a school, let’s not politicize our mascot. If there are aspects of what we do in our practice that need to change then we will change them.” He immediately went to several Native Americans in the school system and asked, “I’m not a Native American. Share with me what could be offensive about what we do.” The answer regarded the savage and barbaric depiction of the Native American Brave. “And so, we really went away from the image; no likeness, no face,” he said. “We went to the “B” with the feather and really tried to mitigate that. Well, we still had practices in our 70 years that I think were very well intended, that were fun and tried to unite and I think it did for years and years. And it started to get a little divisive and a little insensitive.” Even with the initial changes there were still voices of disapproval. “My goal was, what do we need to do as a Continued page 4
The front windows of Bountiful High School proudly boast the new mascot name. Photo by Roger V. Tuttle
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