Panther pride: Guilford Park High School in Howard County reveals new mascot
Apr. 14—The claws are out — Guilford Park High School's mascot was officially announced Friday morning as the panther.
"I really do think it's a great mascot and logo for Guilford Park," said Principal Josh Wasilewski, who is working to open Howard County's newest high school in August. "One of the most important parts about building a school is having something that's recognizable, but also something that looks great and will represent our community."
The mascot selection process kicked off in February when a focus group of students from the three middle and three high schools feeding into Guilford Park convened to brainstorm potential names. A follow-up student survey generated additional ideas and the community eventually voted on six finalists — bucks, cobras, griffins, panthers, pumas and pythons.
Wasilewski said the panther emerged as the "clear choice."
"Even though it was exciting when we got the [school] name, and we knew the colors, you still feel like you're missing a piece," said Elkridge resident Lisa Bosworth, 49, whose daughter will enter Guilford Park as a freshman this fall. "I like the panthers and I think a lot of people are gonna be very happy with that."
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Construction teams will soon get to work installing the new logo on Guilford Park's gymnasium floor, stadium and throughout the building, which is nearly 90% complete and the largest ever constructed by the school system. About 750 freshmen and sophomores are set to attend the high school on Mission Road in Jessup when it opens in August.
[ Principal Josh Wasilewski prepares Howard County's Guilford Park High School for opening this fall ]
The Guilford Park Panthers will play and practice on state-of-art athletic facilities, including 5 acres of natural turf playing fields for softball, baseball and field hockey. The school's artificial turf stadium seats 3,517 spectators, making it the county's largest.
While the Panthers will field junior varsity teams in all sports — and varsity teams for cross country, track, golf, wrestling and tennis — for the 2023-2024 school year, Wasilewski stressed a wide slate of extracurriculars, including marching band, dance and theater, will also be open to students.
The school's trademarked logo and wordmark (a text-based logo) were designed by VIP Branding, which specializes in school branding. Once the panther was selected, Wasilewski and his team had almost daily communication with the company to determine everything from the panther's fang size to eye coloring.
"No other school has that lettering or specific panther," he said. "That is our Guilford Park Panther."
Wasilewski hopes to have merchandise available for students and families by early summer. While there's still much work to be done until Guilford Park's doors open, the mascot was one piece of the puzzle Wasilewski was especially excited to complete.
"I'm really grateful for the collaboration with our students," he said. "I'm really proud of the fact that they're the ones that selected and came up with the names. That, to me, was so important."
