Ecker Hill has voted in a new mascot, Manny the Miner. The district Board of Education unanimously approved Timmy the Timberwolf’s retirement at its meeting Tuesday.
Treasure Mountain teacher Ellie Johnson said the change was spurred by district restructuring. Treasure Mountain Junior High will be decommissioned at the end of this school year and Ecker Hill and Park City High School are expanding to accommodate Treasure Mountain’s students. Ninth graders from Treasure Mountain will move to the high school and eighth graders will attend Ecker Hill. Teachers will also move to corresponding schools.
Johnson said administrators wanted Ecker Hill to feel new and inviting for all staff and students and thought a new mascot might be the answer.
“It is very exciting for Treasure teachers to make the move to Ecker, but there also is anxiety around the topic,” she said. “We want to make sure that the Treasure teachers feel comfortable, the Ecker teachers feel comfortable and of course the students as well.”
The Ecker Hill student body voted in the Timberwolf mascot in 1997.
Ecker Hill Principal Garret Rose said students and teachers got to vote again this year.
“We had Timmy the Timberwolf and Manny the Miner there going around school, it was a great opportunity for students to see what their options were,” he said.
Almost 30 years later, the survey showed Ecker Hill students preferred the Miners mascot. But Rose said teachers were split.
“There are a lot of teachers who literally had some of these walls built around them, and so for this shift and this proposal, this is a big thing for them,” he said. “It's more than just a mascot. We're looking at changing some of our team names and our hashtags, our mantras.”
Johnson said Ecker administrators are student-focused and ultimately supported the change.
Ecker Hill and Park City High School colors will now be the same: red and black. Digital marketing company TORCH will refresh the Miners logo for both schools, giving each a slightly different look.
