York County’s newest high school finally has a name — and an electric mascot
Students at York County’s newest high school will be known as the Lake Wylie High School Chargers.
The Clover School District board voted on the new name and mascot Monday night.
A planned elementary school on the same Cannonball Run property will be Liberty Hill Elementary School. Its mascot will be the Patriots. And the board also voted unanimously on Roosevelt Middle School and the Tigers mascot, with blue and gold as colors, for a new middle school.
The board picked Lake Wylie for the new high school over Iron Hill, Lakeside and Liberty Hill. The school is projected to open in 2026. Colors will be light blue and gold. Other mascot options were the 49ers, Gators, Lions, Miners and Patriots. Chargers was the last option added to the mascot list.
“It was about the power plant and the lake, and why Lake Wylie was even created in the first place was to create electricity,” said board member Jessica Cody.
A community focus group recommended Wylie, Lakeside, East Clover, Lake Wylie or Liberty Hill as potential high school names. A survey last fall with about 2,300 responses had Lake Wylie as the most popular option.
District officials had discussion in the week leading up to Monday’s decision on what names might bring the district together, or prove divisive. Lake Wylie came up, as Clover and Lake Wylie are the two largest communities in the district.
Could a high school’s new name prove divisive for the Clover School District?
“This is not about two high schools on opposite ends of the district,” Cody said Monday night. “This is about every single student.”
Board members seemed largely to agree on the middle school name and mascot a week ago. Roosevelt, with Tiger as its mascot, was the name of a high school for Black students prior to integration in 1970.
“This will be a great idea to pay homage to the Roosevelt Tigers of the past,” said board member Keron Meeks.
Last week’s recommendation for the elementary school name included Lakeside, Liberty Hill, Mountain View and Allison Creek. Board members also discussed Elias Hill, referencing a former enslaved person and civil rights activist from the area.
