A message from LCS Superintendent Matt Wandrie:
I am pleased to announce that the LCS Board of Education has approved a recommendation regarding the future mascot of Lapeer Community Schools and the new Lapeer High School. I was proud to pass along the recommendation of the mascot committee, comprised of 60 students from East and West (alongside staff members from both schools), to the Board for its consideration at a special meeting held this evening.
I am excited to announce that, starting in 2014-15, we will be the Lapeer Lightning.
In spite of all the time that went into this recommendation, I can honestly say that the process was a major step in our overall transition. Students from East and West came together with new ideas, a sense of the bigger picture and a willingness to be persuaded by those who disagreed; they made our district proud.
I asked these students to engage their friends, family members and neighbors in a discussion about the future of the District and how it should be represented — to pay homage to the past or to forge a new identity for the future. These students spoke with more than 4,000 people over the course of a month and the vast majority, they reported, wanted something new, something unique and fresh.
Lightning symbolizes many things, even more profound than speed and power. It symbolizes illumination, creative energy, innovation and transformation — all characteristics of a dynamic organization.
We are pleased with the outcome of our process and excited to be the only high school in Michigan to have this awesome mascot.
Go Lightning!
Matt
The Bolt 
As a former Panther…I like it!
a willingness to be PERSUADED by those who disagreed – that quote pretty much says it all.
I’m confused. You wanted the students to be closed-minded?
No need for confusion. LCS PERSUADED young minded students until they (LCS) got their way. Let’s tell what really happened. When the students were brought together at the beginning of the year – the Panther had the MOST votes.
As a Lapeer West grad, this is absolutely embarrassing. The Lapeer Lightning was the name of the youth soccer club when I was a kid, not the mascot for a high school. Why not the Griffin, Half Lion, Half Eagle??!! Also, the colors do not work together at all. Shame on the Lapeer School Board, but of course they’ve been screwing things up for the kids for decades.
Evan —
It’s a mascot.
L0lz. Evan, umad? As a Lapeer East Student, it is absolutely embarrassing that a student has better grammar than a grad. You need a colon after Griffin. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to go there again anyway.
It’s not a mascot, it’s a weather phenomenon.
I totally agree. They should have chosen a name that respects the heritage of both the east and west sides of M-24.
They should do like the Ravens and have arms instead of a logo: a shield quartered with McDonalds, the Meijer parking lot (for the west), the old Taco Bell, and the Pix (for the east).
Seriously! I have to say that “Lightning” is the last thing I could see as a mascot. Would like to know who thought this was a creative mascot have no creativity in them at all. A griffin would have joined the two original mascots and shown unity where there use to be a divide. Very disappointed!
The Lightning would not have to be the direct mascot,.. it would be our name. Our mascotts could be the “bolts”, “flashes”, or the “flashers” which could be entertaining at the halftime show.
Blue = Sky
Green = Ground
Lightning In The Middle…I Guess It Works 😉
I love the color combination and i love the mascot idea.. i just don’t like them together. I can understand the blue and yellow lightning. I just don’t think green would look good in any way involving lightning.
Not a mascot….can they get a do over???!!!
The Lapeer Schutzstaffel?
Dislike! !! Griffin makes way more sense, the two become one.
That is the lamest name ive heard of .there most not have been to much thought in this process.im sure if u people ask the tax payers of lapeer they probably could come up with a better name than the lapeer lighting
We did ask. And we received dozens of mascot ideas. And, incidentally, no matter what decision was made negative people would find a way to be negative about it.
I’m fine with the change but not the article. The truth is, the vast majority did NOT ask for something new, and it bothers me that that was mentioned.
Andy —
At no point did any single mascot option get even close to 50 percent approval.
Great collaboration! Congratulations!
As an LWHS alum, I waited with great anticipation for this announcement and I’m sad to say that I am a bit underwhelmed. I thought the Griffin (half big cat, half eagle) would have sent a great message of unity. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. From now on, Once A Panther, Always A Panther.
Why lighting as a mascot. Lighting cancels games..when east opened it’s doors years ago and we became east or west. West took the original school song the original school colors and the original mascot. Panthers should of stayed. Because it was here when we had one school many years ago. It was the kids choice to vote so they should of been able to vote how they wanted.
I’m hoping you didn’t go to Lapeer schools — learn how to spell “Lightning”; end questions with a question mark; West and East should be capitalized; it’s “its” not “it’s”; learn how to insert commas where needed; it’s “should have” not “should of”; never begin a sentence with the word “Because”; and your use of “kids” should have an apostrophe after because it is possessive. I’m sure you don’t understand any of this, so have a Lapeer High Lightning student explain it to you next year.
Should have gone back to your roots….should have gone back to the Panthers…
Sorry! Don’t see much creativity there! 2 Schools torn apart, to build 1 new! How about the Phoenix?
Terrible choice….all I can say!!
The new mascot name is just fine, as long as the Schools don’t come along with yet another millage to build new buildings to replace the good ones that they’re closing.
“Flash” of brilliance? I’m not sold, but if that’s what my kids will be known as, then okay. I’m just having a difficult time coming up with any cheer that goes along with a lightning lot. Anyone have any suggestions? Maybe the district can have some input from the community and let us help come up with some fun slogans/cheers and post them on the school website! Now that would be a great idea and fun too!
Lightning bolt is what I meant to say. Love auto correct!
This is great! Just think about baseball, bowling, and the teachers union…….they can all have lightning strikes !!!
The logo is fine with me. But if this school combo results in more fighting in the high school, my son will become an Almont Raider.
That works.. But I like Lapeer Leopards!
Not quite sure yet? There is one thing for sure, you will not make everyone happy! Trouble started, when they split the school back in the 70’s! They had plenty of land to work with, should of just added on to the school. Every school district has population growth & declines. Lapeer did not need two schools! I am not originally from Lapeer, yet my children started & finished in Lapeer. I graduated in a class of 576 students! Good students, GREAT athletic teams, etc. Now that school district is less students (last year graduating class of 280)… Just proves Lapeer did’t need two schools!
Lightening, one of the most powerful and energy laden phenomenon in nature! Nice! Everyone can be the mascot with their camera, spectators can flash their cameras, to emulate the mascot there is a score/win. Mascot storm is over and we got the best of it 🙂
Lapeer Lightning? So we are now the only non-animal based mascot in the Metro League? That’s just embarrassing, and almost as bad as the logo! Were there other designs submitted? I’m speechless…..this is in the top 5 of the least creative things I have ever seen In my life and it makes no sense on so many levels….
The logo hasn’t been created yet. It was just voted on and approved last night. Next year we will be in the Saginaw Valley Conference, with other non-animal-based mascots. Like the Chemics, Lumberjacks, Cavaliers, etc. Also, Flushing is joining the Metro League next year. A Raider is not an animal.
mas·cot
ˈmasˌkät,-kət/
noun
noun: mascot; plural noun: mascots
1.
a person or thing that is supposed to bring good luck or that is used to symbolize a particular event or organization.
mas·cot
ˈmasˌkät,-kət/
noun
noun: mascot; plural noun: mascots
1.
a person or thing that is supposed to bring good luck
Good point Mr. Field, Mascot suppose brings good luck?
-delays football games, and other sporting events
-causes people to seek shelter
– starts forest fires
– cancels space launches
– can cause deafness
– causes power outages
– ushers in storms
– in 1998 lightning KILLED… “Lightning killed at a stroke 11 young people aged between 20 and 35 years during a football match,”
– Wikipedia reports…. An estimated 24,000 people are killed by lightning strikes around the world each year and about 240,000 are injured
Does not really sound like the definition of a mascot, where is the good luck?
That name is so disappointing. I thought it was going to be a Griffin.
Stupid name choice, it is really just another classic Lapeer School Board blunder.
My sister was in the first class that went to East, I graduated in 82 from East. I never liked the two schools, it needlessly split a great town, watered down sports, created conflicts and fights, made M-24 seem like the Berlin Wall, and was never fully accepted in the community. I moved away years ago but I still have family there and my dad is buried there.
Lightning is probably the worst possible choice, but having one high school for a great community is terrific news and rectifies the worst decision the School Board ever made for Lapeer students. Let the healing begin.
It’s a mascot.
Also, the good thing about this is if people would just add the “e” it may create a good theme to additionally help the enrollments. If more would try to experience the Light”e”ning, then in time more revenue could be drawn into the system.
………a new definition is created……………………………………………….
LIGHTENING – A drop in the level of the womb during the last weeks of pregnancy, as the head of the fetus engages in the pelvis.
See also related terms for womb.
Looks like an advertisement for an energy drink.
My own college alma mater, Kent State, was the Golden Flashes, which might explain why I never had any interest in mascots or college sports at all until long after I graduated.
The Flashes had a mascot identity crisis. At any given time they have been represented by a lightning bolt, a golden retriever, an eagle, a cartoon character called Grog, a superhero with lightning bolts coming out of his hands called Golden Flash, and The Golden Flasher, a palomino with a rider. My friend Ken, remembering the retriever, says, “I think the message they were trying to convey was: Try pushing us around and we’ll lick your face. No wonder the football team went 1-10 and 0-11 back to back years.”
The fact that Kent State has won only one conference football championship in school history might have more to do with your lack of interest.