Say hello to Florida State College at Jacksonville's new campus-wide mascot: The Manta Ray
The Manta Ray, which is highly intelligent and the largest ray in the ocean, won the public vote to become Florida State College at Jacksonville's new mascot.
The Manta Ray was one of the top three finalists during a public voting process that began in the fall of 2023. It received the most votes in the final round, which was announced during FSCJ's annual commencement ceremony Thursday.
"The news was met with much celebration from the attending graduates, families, friends, faculty and staff, and graduates received FSCJ Manta Ray rally towels after accepting their diplomas," according to the college.
The Manta Ray is not only the largest ray in the ocean — with a wing span of up to 23 feet and weighing up to two to — but it can leap out of the water. The flaps on front of a Manta Ray are called cephalic lobes, which help the animal "funnel food into its mouth while it swims," according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Also, they have "demonstrated high levels of intelligence and long term memory, able to map their environment using sight and smell," according to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation. "Manta rays have the largest brain to body weight ratio of any living fish."
Beginning in October 2023, the public voted from a list of 25 prospective mascots gathered by student leadership, faculty and staff. The public's 9,000 votes and 864 write-in names narrowed the options to the top three: Kraken, Manta Ray and Sea Dragon. The public voted again on the three finalists from Jan. 17 to Feb. 24.
"This has been an exciting process, and we cannot thank the community enough for their involvement," College President John Avendano said. "We often say FSCJ is 'the community’s college' so we wanted to be sure we selected a mascot that everyone would connect with and help us build on that energy. The Manta Ray was a perfect choice for us, and we cannot wait to see the symbol on shirts, hats, uniforms, signage and more."
The new mascot will be incorporated across FSCJ, FSCJ Athletics and the full college community, including new Manta Ray uniforms for the athletics teams and a mascot costume for the 2024-25 season.
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The FSCJ athletic program has had mascots — the Stars, then the Blue Wave — but they were not used by the overall college. Avendano decided last year, after talking to students, faculty, staff, alumni and community partners, schoolwide mascot was needed to "unify" the almost 60-year-old FSCJ.
With the Manta Ray selected, the Blue Wave will be discontinued.
The college has men's baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country, women's volleyball, women's beach volleyball and women's softball, as well as intramural activities including flag football, soccer, basketball, billiards, table tennis and kickball.
Other local college mascots are the University of North Florida Ospreys, the Jacksonville University Dolphins and the St. Johns River State College Vikings.
bcravey@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4109
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville college FSCJ picks Manta Ray for mascot
