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Mascot Makeover

The Mascot Development Committee is thrilled to introduce the college’s new costumed mascot—Rizzly the Grizzly! After months of collaboration and valuable input from the community, Rizzly is here to bring college spirit and excitement to every corner of campus. To celebrate, we’re hosting several events where you can get free Mountie gear, meet Rizzly in person, snap a photo and be part of the fun.

Mascot Launch Events

  1. Mascot Booth at Join-a-Club Festivities - Daytime
    📅 Date: Tuesday, Sept. 10, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (Rizzly appears at 12 p.m. with the Pep Squad)
    📍 Location: Miracle Mile, north of Student Center (moved to Student Center, Second Floor due to air quality)
    🎉 Be the first to see Rizzly and enjoy giveaways and music, while exploring student clubs! Hats, buttons and stickers available while supplies last.
  2. Lead up to Board of Trustees Meeting
    📅 Date: Wednesday, Sept. 11, 5 to 6:30 p.m. (Rizzly appears about 6 p.m.)
    📍 Location: Founders Hall, front patio
    📸 Rizzly makes college business fun! Enjoy giveaways before the meeting begins. Teddy bears, buttons and stickers available while supplies last.
  3. Mascot Booth at Join-a-Club Festivities - Evening
    📅 Date: Thursday, Sept. 12, 5 to 6:30 p.m. (Rizzly appears at 5:30 p.m. with the Pep Squad)
    📍 Location: Miracle Mile, north of Student Center (moved to Student Center, Second Floor due to air quality)
    🎉 While exploring student clubs, catch a sighting of Rizzly while enjoying giveaways and music! Hats, buttons and stickers available while supplies last.
  4. Home Game Debut
    📅 Date: Saturday, Sept. 14, 5 to 6 p.m. (Rizzly appears at 5:45 p.m.)
    📍 Location: Hilmer Lodge Stadium
    🏈 Bring your friends and family to watch the first home football game this fall and enjoy giveaways. Clear stadium bags, buttons and stickers available while supplies last.

The Mascot Development Task Force chose the native grizzly bear to represent the Mounties moniker after extensive research and community input. As a symbol of strength, intelligence and resilience, the grizzly bear reflects the values of the college as expressed by survey respondents. The grizzly bear was also native to the college's namesake mountain, making it a perfect ambassador of a mountaineer. As a costumed mascot, Rizzly the Grizzly brings the symbol to life, embodying the spirit and energy of the Mt. SAC community in a fun and engaging way. A series of spirit marks were also developed by marketing to visualize what it means to be a Mountie.

We hope to see you at the upcoming events. 
Go Mounties!

Mascot Development Task Force

Beginning Spring 2023, a group formed by the President’s Advisory Council (PAC) began to convene to follow up on the decision to change the mascot (Joe Mountie) but keep the college moniker (Mounties). The Mascot Development Workgroup was tasked to oversee the process of researching, developing, designing, recommending to PAC, and then implementing a Board of Trustees approved college mascot. They used a formal bidding process to bring in an outside agency to assist in the initiative. This group utilized more than 4 community-wide surveys that brought in more than 12,000 diverse voices. Their work is outlined below. 

The Mascot Development Task Force chose the native grizzly bear to represent the Mounties moniker after extensive research and community input. As a symbol of strength, intelligence and resilience, the grizzly bear reflects the values of the college as expressed by survey respondents. The grizzly bear was also native to the college's namesake mountain, making it a perfect ambassador of a mountaineer. As a costumed mascot, Rizzly the Grizzly brings the symbol to life, embodying the spirit and energy of the Mt. SAC community in a fun and engaging way. A series of spirit marks were also developed by marketing to visualize what it means to be a Mountie.

    • Purpose

      PURPOSE

      • The PAC Mascot Development Task Force will oversee the process of researching, developing, designing, recommending to PAC, and implementing a Board of Trustees approved new college mascot.


      FUNCTION

      • HIRE A BRANDING COMPANY
        • Develop a RFP to secure the services of a branding company specializing in mascot development
        • Identify and interview finalists
        • Recommend a company for the President and Board to hire
        • Oversee procurement of the services
      • FACILITATE CAMPUS PROCESS
        • In partnership with the company, support campus processes in the research, development, design and implementation of the new mascot
        • Includes design of costumed mascot, development of related graphics and logos, development of usage standards
    • Membership
      • Marketing Manager (1)
      • Athletics Manager (1)
      • Board of Trustees (1)
      • Students (3)
      • Academic Senate (1)
      • Classified Senate (1)
      • Management Steering (1)
      • Marketing Graphic Designer (1)
      • Athletics Coach (1 men’s team, 1 women’s team)
      • Student Life (1)
      • Mt. SAC Foundation (1)
      • Community Relations (1)
    • Meetings/Summaries

      WORKGROUP PREPARATIONS

       

      LOMA MEDIA BROUGHT ON BOARD TO SUPPORT THE PROJECT

      • Friday, October 20, 2023, 3 p.m. 
        • Introductions and Overview with workgroup and Loma Media Team
        • Planning for On-Campus Interviews
        • Timeline must move quickly to reach students before end of Fall semester
      • Tuesday, October 31, 2023 and Wednesday, November 1, 2023
        • Interviews with representatives from Mascot Development Workgroup (selected by President's Advisory Council), as well as two representative board members, NAISA faculty advisors, foundation and alumni representatives. 
      • Monday, November 13, 2023, 3 p.m.  
        • Results of On-Campus Interviews 
        • Planning for Campus-Wide Survey
      • Monday, November 27, 2023, 3 p.m.
        • Survey Finalized: strategically developed questions, short and precise, increased prize for participation.
        • Email Finalization: strategically developed for brevity, includes some background, mention of prize, deadline.
        • Marketing and Outreach: broad outreach via email, digital advertising, posting on building monitors, flyers, outreach outside Student Center and at student affinity groups.
        • Survey set to open after the meeting and then close on Friday, December 15, 2023, but could be kept open if responses are low. 
      • Wednesday, November 29, 2023
        • Survey distributed to students, employees, alumni, donors and social media followers 
        • 1,900 responses within 2 days 
      • Monday, December 11, 2023, 3 p.m. 
        • Strong response rate of 3,300 responses, no need to extend survey
        • Early look at some quantitative data results
        • Workgroup decidied unanimously to continue to meet through break and Winter in order to meet deadline set by president.
        • Goals to review results Dec. 18 and make decision on a general concept by the Jan. 22 meeting and then get PAC and Board approvals in February.
        • Email emphasizing importance of upcoming meetings and need for their participation sent to all committee members. 
      • Monday, Dec. 18, 2023, 3 p.m. 
        • Plan to review quantitative results and any qualitiative findings brought forward by Loma. Both will be made available to workgroup members for review.
        • Committee narrowed down to choices that aligned with characteristics, success criteria and important mascot qualities noted in survey.
        • Committee was provided full results of the survey for review.
      • Monday, January 8, 2024, 3 p.m.
        • After discussion, the committee chose Bear, a top survey choice which aligned with characteristics important to the campus. They are also a symbol of strength, courage, intrepidness for native Tongva people, according to Native History faculty 
        • Congratulations to survey winner Jo Watanabe, a student.
      • Monday, January 22, 2024, 3 p.m.
        • Committee made a plan to update the campus and generate feedback before the Board Meeting on Feb. 14
        • The Committee leaned toward Grizzly Bear over Black Bear, but voted to give Loma Media creative flexibility in designing a mascot 
        • Emails and social media posts were sent with a Mascot Makeover Feedback Form
      • Monday, February 8, 2024, 3 p.m.
        • Committee looked at Feedback Form Results so far. Community seems to understand and agree, with 60% overall in agreement and 13% who are neutral. There are about 26% who prefer something different (among those two disagree, the top three reasons are that they would rather keep Joe Mountie, they would prefer the mountain lion, they would prefer another choice).
        • Committee agreed on details of the bear, they still prefer Grizzly and want it to be a natural brown bear shade that can pair well with Mt. SAC Maroon.
      • Wednesday, February 14, 2024
        • The Board of Trustees approved the choice of a bear as our next mascot. The voting results: 5 voted yes, 2 voted no, and the student trustee did not concur. 
      • Monday, March 4, 2024
        • Kick off meeting with mascot design group: Street Characters.
        • Reviewed the next steps, which includes putting the survey results into a design brief for the artist to translate the ideas into reality.
        • Meetings are booked each Monday in case there are designs/revisions to review.
        • The workgroup will develop two designs that meet the mascot qualifications that have been identified previously and then have the college community vote on the winning mascot design.  Aim is end of April for board approval on May 8.
        • The winning mascot design will then be further developed for additional graphic uses
      • Monday, March 18, 2024
        • Two versions of the mascot were developed.
        • Workgroup provided feedback on both versions for revision.
      • Monday, March 25, 2024
        • Revisions were reviewed by workgroup.
        • Workgroup is satisifed with progress. The designs must follow the survey feedback from the community for a mascot that showed strength, confidence and intelligence.
        • Goal is to develop two equally effective approaches to the mascot for the campus community to choose from
      • Monday, April 8, 2024
        • Revisions continue for mascot designs and how they would be shared with the campus. The design must follow the survey feedback from the community for a mascot that showed strength, confidence and intelligence.
        • Goal to have survey out for two weeks at the end of April to have community feedback before the board meeting.
      • Monday, April 15, 2024
        • The survey and email were finalized. 
        • The two mascot designs were approved by the workgroup. The workgroup narrowed down to choices that aligned with characteristics, success criteria and important mascot qualities noted in survey. The survey feedback from the community wanted a mascot that showed strength, confidence and intelligence.
      • Monday, April 29, 2024
        • Results of the survey are strong so far.
        • Taking an early look at results and planning for next steps.
        • Review results before next meeting.
      • Monday, May 6, 2024
        • Reviewed final results: 67% prefer longer snout and more teeth; 56% prefer caramel color
        • After discussing write-in results, task force agreed to make minor adjustments to soften eyes and move toward a more medium brown.

        • There were 5250 total responses. Of those, 1009 filled out qualitative section, or 19% with write-in response. Those responses followed these themes:
          Confusion (mascot costume character vs mascot graphics/logo, process, etc.)
          Design Feedback (their suggestions for improvement, like facial features, expression changes, body shape, fur, clothing, accessories, general look and feel)
          Disagreements (don’t want a change of mascot at all, disagree with animal, prefer another moniker, prefer different mascot designs, prefer a different process)
          Other (general positive feedback, other questions or thoughts or ideas)

      • Monday, May 13, 2024
        • Minor adjustments to be made with Street Characters in order to incorporate write-in responses from survey. 
        • Discussion on names. Last call to bring forward ideas from constituent groups. Discussed names that have been previously submitted through other surveys or other submissions through task force members.
        • FUTURE SURVEY FOR NAME: Discussion on how to best gather ideas from community and get a feel for their perspective in the short time before Spring Semester ends. Committee decided to do a hybrid survey. Share best ideas that have come forward to gauge their opinions on them. Also, provide open write-in responses for name ideas.  Vote: 5 vote Hybrid survey solution, 1 vote no survey, 0 vote on two survey solution, 1 abstain
        • Survey link: Mt. SAC Mascot Name Survey (surveymonkey.com) 
      • Monday, May 20, 2024
        • Workgroup agreed to move forward with minor adjustments made by Street Characters to costumed design. 
        • Mascot names moving forward for survey: Max, Champ, Percy, Echo, Oso, Rizzly (Rizz), Summit, Scout, Wyn, Honor.
        • Distribution of survey Tuesday, May 28, 2024 open for two weeks.
      • Monday, May 27, 2024 Meeting cancelled due to Memorial Day Holiday
      • Monday, June 3, 2024
        • Workgroup reviewed name survey initial results.
        • Over 1300 responses 74% student feedback.
        • Over 600 write in suggestions.
        • Discussion of Mascot launch event
          • Suggestion for launch to coinside with Join-A-Club, (September 10-12, 2024).
        • Graphic design concepts of Mascot to be provided to workgroup June 17, 2024.
      • Monday, June 10, 2024 Meeting cancelled due to survey still in progress
      • Monday, June 17, 2024
        • Workgroup reviewed name survey results
          • 2,587 votes submitted for the name choice section.
          • Rizz the Grizz received a majority vote with 1,089 votes.
          • Write in option of Rizzly was accepted as the name to move forward
            • 7 votes in favor, 1 abstain, 0 against
            • Rizzly to be presented at Board of Trustees meeting June 25, 2024.
        • Loma Media presented first round of graphic design for Rizzly the Grizzly.
          • Two graphic design concepts were created:
            • Athletics Mark
            • Spirit Mark
          • Workgroup discussed the presented concepts and gave feedback.
          • Athletics Mark to be reviewed by athletics department with feedback given to Loma Media for edits.
          • Workgroup tasked with sharing Spirit Mark design concepts with their constituent group and present feedback to Loma Media by June, 18, 2024 for edits.
      • Monday, June 24, 2024 Meeting cancelled to provide time to Loma Media for suggested edits to graphic design concepts
    • Survey Results

      More than 3,600 responded to our Mascot Preferences Survey in December 2023!


      More than 600 people responded to our Feedback Survey in February 2024!

      • After the workgroup shared its thought process on recommending a bear, we had a Feedback Survey in which 606 people responded! 
      • The results were: 
        • 60% agreed with the recommendation of the bear
        • 26% disagreed with the use of the bear (themes included emotional connection with past mascot, preference for first-place public choice mountain lion, preference for other ideas)
        • 13% were neutral or did not have an opinion


      More than 5,200 people responded to the Mascot Choice Surey in April 2024 

      • The workgroup developed two designs and two colors for the community to choose. The results were:
        • 66.7% preferred the mascot version with the longer snout and more teeth
        • 56% preferred the caramel color
        • About 19% of respondents also provided written in feedback
      • The written in feedback responses followed these themes:
           Confusion (mascot costume character vs mascot graphics/logo, process, etc.)
           Design Feedback (suggestions for improvement, like facial features, expression changes, body shape, fur, clothing, accessories, general look and feel)
           Disagreements (don’t want a change of mascot at all, disagree with animal, prefer another moniker, prefer different mascot designs, prefer a different process)
           Other (general positive feedback, other questions or thoughts or ideas)
      • See the raw results

       

      More than 2,500 people responded to the Mascot Naming Surey in May/June 2024 

      • Survey Results at a glance
        • Over 75% Student Feedback
        • Over 40% votes for Rizz the Grizz
        • Over 800 write in suggestions
        • Rizzly the Grizzly selected to move forward by workgroups as the mascot name
      • Full Naming Survey Results
    • Mascot and Spirit Marks

      The college's new costumed mascot and college spirit marks are designed to foster school spirit and unity. College spirit marks are visual symbols or graphics used by colleges to promote school spirit and loyalty, particularly in non-academic contexts. Unlike the primary college logo, which represents the institution as a whole, spirit marks are used in less formal settings to build and encourage a sense of community and pride among students, alumni, and fans. 

      See the graphic marks and learn about their usage on the Marketing and Communication Brand Identity Guidelines website.

      Visit Brand Identity Guidelines

Mascot and Moniker Evaluation Task Force

This task force met from March 2021 to June 2022. After the college's 75th anniversary year, the college decided to evaluate its mascot (Joe Mountie) and moniker (Mounties) to determine if they were appropriate to represent the college into the future. A cross-campus group developed a process and conducted a campus-wide survey to assess the identities. After much discussion, they then voted 15-2 to change the mascot, Joe Mountie, and 12-5 to keep the moniker, Mounties. 

It will take time to develop a new mascot that can properly express Mt. SAC’s spirit, values and prestige. Until the new mascot is named, Mt. SAC has phased out usage of Joe Mountie. More permanent changes to facilities that feature Joe Mountie will be completed once the new mascot is approved by the Board of Trustees sometime in middle of 2024.