{"id":225019,"date":"2025-09-14T01:55:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-14T01:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/225019\/"},"modified":"2025-09-14T01:55:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T01:55:09","slug":"ocean-beach-elementary-chooses-parrot-for-new-school-mascot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/225019\/","title":{"rendered":"Ocean Beach Elementary chooses parrot for new school mascot"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s note: <\/strong>Times of San Diego occasionally republishes select articles from San Diego Community Newspaper Group publications that published prior to NEWSWELL\u2019s acquisition of the group. This article was originally published on Nov. 29, 2024, in Peninsula Beacon. It has been lightly edited for style.<\/p>\n

Want to request the republication of an article from the San Diego Community Newspaper Group archives? You can submit a request here<\/a>. If you have questions, please contact our editorial team at info@timesofsandiego.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ocean Beach Elementary School has a new chapter in its identity and a new mascot: a parrot.<\/p>\n

After a Nov. 5 schoolwide vote, students and staff selected the colorful and vocal parrot as their new school symbol replacing the orca by a 253-184 vote.<\/p>\n

The election was a lively all-day event at the school, with students and staff participating in the democratic process by creating voter registration cards and casting ballots. Voting booths were manned by student members of the Student Lighthouse Team, who facilitated the election as part of their first schoolwide project.<\/p>\n

Students reacted to the change in their mascot. Peninsula Beacon used only first names of the elementary school students because the school does not provide last names. <\/p>\n

\u201cA small thought I had led to a big election that created a major change. Thanks to a pencil and paper, plus perseverance and teamwork, OBES will be known as the parrots.\u201d \u2014 Sloane, a fourth grader who spearheaded adopting a parrot mascot.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think a parrot is good because it represents the school and the qualities of the students \u2014 kind, smart and a little bit mischievous.\u00a0 \u2014 Jamie, third grade.<\/p>\n

\u201cI liked getting to pick what we wanted most. I was nervous it was going to be the orca, so I was happy the parrot won.\u201d\u00a0\u2014 Ophelia, kindergarten.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a really fun opportunity to share our opinion. I got to help out in the process by writing the introduction about the election to share with the whole school. I also got to deliver ballots to classrooms. It was a very good opportunity to participate.\u201d\u00a0\u2014 Eleanor, third grade.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was super excited that I got to help pick the new mascot for OBES and that I got to participate in an election. When the winner was announced everyone screamed and was so excited.\u201d \u2014 Christopher, fourth grade.<\/p>\n

\u201cParrots are local to OB and something that I love seeing when they are here. I\u2019m glad that we were able to vote on a mascot that represents Ocean Beach.\u201d \u2014 Daniel, fourth grade.<\/p>\n

\u201cI liked being able to vote.\u201d \u2014 Addison, kindergarten.<\/p>\n

\u201cI made the ballot box. It was fun to work together. I feel good about the parrot winning. I thought it was going to win because it was really popular.\u201d \u2014 Nora, third grade.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Student Lighthouse Team is a student-run team of third and fourth graders who look for opportunities on campus to lead and improve the OBES community,\u201d said Marie Wright, third-grade teacher and one of the teacher leads of the Student Lighthouse Team.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe team has four smaller-action teams that work with adult leads to help bring their ideas to life. The students are excited to have a new mascot and are already brainstorming ways to make it a visible presence on campus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following the announcement of the winning school mascot, Principal Marco Drapeau said: \u201cI\u2019m thrilled that the parrot has been chosen as our new school mascot. Parrots symbolize intelligence, teamwork and resilience \u2014 qualities we value in every student here. Now, let\u2019s come together to think of a great name and how we will display our new mascot with pride.\u201d<\/p>\n

The journey to select a new mascot began in the spring during a revamp of the school\u2019s mural. Local artist Rob Tobin collaborated with school families to incorporate both an orca and a parrot into the mural\u2019s design, which sparked a discussion about the school\u2019s identity and mascot.<\/p>\n

Many students and staff were initially unaware that the orca was the school\u2019s official mascot. A few students took the lead, talking with teachers, gathering signatures and presenting the idea of a new mascot at the PTA meeting. The Mascot Election Committee was formed within the Student Lighthouse Team, and student leaders made posters and campaign videos to showcase the two nominees \u2014 orca and parrot.<\/p>\n

As the newly chosen mascot, the parrot will become a key symbol for school pride and identity. The Student Lighthouse Team will take the lead in integrating the new mascot into school materials, logo wear and other branded elements.<\/p>\n

The Student Lighthouse Team, composed of third and fourth-graders, focuses on campus improvement and leadership opportunities. The Student Lighthouse Team is part of the Leader in Me program, which helps empower students, educators, and families with essential leadership and life skills, preparing them to excel.<\/p>\n

The school is also looking to get donations to purchase a parrot costume to use for events.\u00a0<\/p>\n

READ NEXT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Editor\u2019s note: Times of San Diego occasionally republishes select articles from San Diego Community Newspaper Group publications that…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":225020,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,10505,10086,121842,3549,7264,121843,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-225019","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-exclude-homepage","12":"tag-ocean-beach","13":"tag-ocean-beach-elementary-school","14":"tag-san-diego","15":"tag-sandiego","16":"tag-sdng-archives","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115200165376872096","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225019\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}