For Immediate Release – February 17, 2009

Contact:  Delia A. Taylor, APR, Taylor Media Services, 225-931-0286 or taylormedia@bellsouth.net or Superintendent Bill Spear, 225-686-7044 or bill.spear@lpsb.org.

Students Asked to Name New Schools’ Mascot

Winning Entry Awarded $100 Certificate

            Livingston Parish Public School officials are asking students at Denham Springs Junior High and Southside Junior High to help them name the mascot for the new Juban Parc Schools.

            The school system is currently constructing a new Juban Parc Junior High and Elementary on Brown Road, south of Denham Springs, to alleviate overcrowding at the existing schools in the Denham Springs area. Both schools are scheduled to open August 2010.

            School Board Member Buddy Mincey, Jr., of Denham Springs, announced that officials have selected teal blue and black to be the school colors for both the elementary and junior high, but that a mascot has not yet been selected.

            “We want some of the students who will be most closely affected by these new schools to help us select the new mascot.  We’ve asked the junior high students at Denham Springs and Southside to submit their ideas to us.  Some of these students will be moving to this school and some others will be competing against them on the athletic fields and in academic competitions, so we thought they could offer some great ideas,” Mincey, Jr., said.

            He said students are to submit their entries with a short essay supporting why their mascot nomination should be selected.  Mincey said the same mascot may be used for both the junior high and elementary, with some variations on the design.

The student entries will be reviewed by a selections committee at the school board office, and the winning entry will be awarded a $100 gift certificate, donated by Alvin Fairburn & Associates, the engineering and architectural firm that is overseeing the construction of the two schools.

            The principals at both junior highs will announce the timeline for the competition at their schools and post the deadlines for the entries. The flexible timeline will allow the schools to work around spring testing.

            Mincey, Jr., said the entries will be submitted to a selections committee at the school board office, and a winner will be announced before the end of the school year. “We hope this competition will help generate excitement about the new schools and create school spirit among the students,” Mincey, Jr., said.

Livingston Parish School Board Member Buddy Mincey, Jr., announces the guidelines of the student competition to name a mascot for the new Juban Parc Junior High and Elementary. He unveiled a "Mystery Mascot" board at the groundbreaking for the Juban Parc Elementary School. Both the Juban Parc Junior High and Elementary are scheduled to open August 2010.