After planting the seed year after year, the Lebanon High School student body is now seeing the fruit of their labors.
During a special assembly on Thursday, Jan. 15, ASB President Cade Weber introduced a sweet treat: the school’s new “spirit mascot,” in the form of a strawberry.
The mascot, named LW Berry (“L Dub”), sprouted from the efforts of the Associated Student Body, class officers and other students.
Principal Craig Swanson said that, in his seven years at the high school, he’s had “many, many” students talk to him about getting a mascot, but it was Weber who harvested the yield.
“This ASB president wanted action and worked tirelessly with a committee – myself as principal, our superintendent, our communications director – to deliver something that you guys are all going to be able to rally behind,” he said.
Weber said it was a very student-driven effort seeded to various leadership, administration and other coaches and staff, but the student body was also polled on the locally grown idea.
Lead students on the project researched mascots from the country for inspiration, which ultimately led them to realize they wanted to pick an idea “that was clearly unique and tied to Lebanon,” he said.
As such, there were no other contenders in the basket to choose from.
“The strawberry was always the leading idea because of the strong connection to Lebanon community identity,” Weber said.
Some more quirky or unique high school mascots in the nation include the Boiling Spring Bubblers (Pennsylvania), Cobden Appleknockers (Illinois), Freeport Pretzels (Illinois), Harrison Golden Goblins (Arkansas), Hatboro-Horsham Hatters (Pennsylvania), Hoopeston Cornjerkers (Illinois), Jordan Beetdiggers (Utah), Key West Conchs (Florida), Monroe Cheesemakers (Wisconsin), Poca High Dots (West Virginia), Ridgefield Spudders (Washington), and the Yuma Criminals (Arizona).
The use of Native American imagery from Lebanon’s high school was removed about a decade ago.
“Since then, our mascot, what we get to rally behind, is right here on the court – interlocking initials (LW),” Swanson told the students.
During his tenure at LHS, student groups always approached him with the same thought: “We want to be able to rally behind something besides initials.”
“I want everybody to be clear, we are still Warriors. Always will be Warriors. But we have a spirit mascot that’s about to be unveiled that will, honestly, just be a lot of fun for our school,” Swanson said.
The student body also approached the Lebanon Strawberry Festival board for their blessing. Weber noted some of the bullet points the student body made about using “L Dub” as their spirit mascot: it provides a unique identity that is inherently Lebanon, the strawberry has deep local roots that create a community connection, and it’s versatile.
“It provides a fun identity for students to rally behind for spirit-related activities, since the LW logo took the place of indigenous imagery, while still complementing the Warrior identity and spirit,” Weber said.
Sophomore Brooke White said it’s “not what I was expecting,” although she heard rumors already circulating about the berry reveal. Tahlea Coy, senior, said the new mascot is “a little interesting,” but perhaps they should’ve done a horse or something, instead.
Another senior thinks the strawberry is “pretty goofy looking” and suggested a Roman centurion or knight might be more in-line with the school’s previous mascot.
“I think they did a good job tying something in that all the community is familiar with,” Dancing Coach Megan Lofton said.
“We just want to have fun,” Swanson said. “That’s the biggest thing Mr. Weber wanted to do, is deliver something that we can have fun with, and I think he has delivered a homerun.”
