Back when Minnetonka High School was established in 1952, our mascot was Oscar the Octopus, a non-wearable representation of our school spirit. He quickly evolved from being a stuffed animal filled with nylon to a costume a student could actually wear.

Then, in 1985, by popular vote, Skip the Duck replaced Oscar from ‘85 to ‘89. Yet, after four short years, Skip the Duck lost out to the Skipper, who currently reigns as our mascot, due to several movements in the 1980s to have a more “macho” and “aggressive” mascot.

In a recent survey conducted by Breezes, 478 students gave insight on what they thought of our current mascot. Interestingly, more than half the students surveyed preferred one of our previous mascots over our current one.

On the issue of whether our skipper represents the student body well, one student responded, “Yes, but it is also discriminatory.” What this student is saying, and others have reiterated, is that despite the fact that our current blond-haired, blue-eyed mascot does in fact reflect the student body, which is over 90% white, some minorities do not feel represented by our Skipper.

It is a fair point that our mascot does represent the main race of the school, but not our gender, which is 49% female and 51% male. Therefore, it would make sense to have a female mascot just as much as a male.

When asked about this, Women of Color member Tiffany Cooper ‘19 said, “I believe that Minnetonka is a place where diversity is accepted, and our mascot should represent this as well. Speaking from a minority standpoint, I believe our mascot should embody the diversity of our school, as it is a place where everybody should be represented.”

There are so many paths we could take to make our mascot more inclusive. Having discussed previous mascots, we could revert to one of them, specifically Skip, because then we could keep the name Skippers. Or, we could change the mascot to something entirely new, but this is unlikely to occur, because it would likely create state-wide confusion.

The most unifying solution might even be the addition of another mascot, one more diverse and inclusive. The old Skipper mascot could stay with us, while another skipper mascot could be added, but this one female and/or a different race.

A mascot change is unlikely because many legal efforts in 2014 recently went into updating the skipper mascot into what it is today. While we could try to change him, our Skipper will doubtless remain as he is. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with attempting to start a movement. #BringBackSkip