At LFHS, there’s no man behind the mask. There’s nobody trampoline dunking at halftime or doing backflips during timeouts. Why not?

It’s common to see mascots on the sidelines of our opponents’ games. Warren (Blue Devils), Stevenson (Patriots), and Libertyville (Wildcats) all have mascots in suits at their games who are great at firing up the crowd. 

Maybe not the Wildcats, though. There is nothing that could save their sports teams when facing off against the Scouts. The outcome is inevitable. 

Most students have heard of “Skippy” the Scout. Maybe it’s just me, but the only Skippy I’ve seen are the ones painted on the walls in the gyms of East and West Campus. (Fun fact: the mural at East Campus was painted by the class of 1979.)

It’s without question that there should not be a person or mascot that imitates a person of Native American heritage. It’s agreeable that it would be very culturally insensitive.  

To solve this problem, I think it’s time for a rebranding of our Scout. 

I turned to AI (ChatGPT) to help me create some new ideas. I prompted the program with: “Create an image of a high school mascot that is a Scout. The school’s colors are blue and gold.” This is the image that was created.

This dude is awesome! He looks like a park trooper or ranger of sorts–stout, menacing, and perfect for our school. The only thing he is missing is our spear. We can’t lose the spear, so that would have to be incorporated somewhere. Maybe in the handle of the flag or on his shirt. This is something that could easily be worn by a mascot at our games.

While this specific design might not be the perfect solution for LFHS, I think it would be a good place to turn in the near future. This way, we still hold the Scout name that we know and love and add a face to the reputation without completely rebranding. 

Mascots embody their school’s identity. When I think of Lake Forest sports, I think gritty, passionate, fearless, scrappy, and relentless. That’s what a Scout should represent and what our mascot should embody. There’s no reason that we shouldn’t have a real mascot.

I am very curious to know what the community thinks about this. Please leave your thoughts in the comment section.