Bibb County School Urged to Make Changes to Mascot

The Florida State Seminoles are aiming their spear at a Bibb County High School.

FSU wants to see changes made to the Westside High School Seminole.

Last Fall, Westside High and several other schools received letters from the Collegiate Licensing Company about the use of Seminole mascots. Since then, Bibb County and the company have come up with a plan to phase out the aspects of Westside High’s mascot that resembles FSU’s trademark.

“You know a spear is a spear is a spear and so it’s going to be a little difficult to find a spear that doesn’t look like the one they use,” said Westside High School’s Principal Laura Perkins.

FSU does not want Westside High to use the same spear or the same Native American as their mascot. Before the school goes on a costly venture, redesigning and repainting structures and hallways. Principal Perkins says for now, they’ll wait.

“But whatever the attorneys tell us to do, that’s exactly what we’ll do. We want to do the right thing.”

The students and faculty at Westside High have proudly called themselves the Seminoles. The students says they don’t understand why the change is necessary.

“I could see if we were representing the Seminole in not a good fashion, but here at Westside we always strive for excellence and we represent our Seminole with pride,” said Westside High student Juawn Jackson.

Principal Perkins says it could cost up to $75,000 to phase out the current mascot.