MS Naming Committee begins narrowing suggestions

The local committee charged with recommending the name of the next ECISD middle school is working hard to select a name that will represent the strength of our community and be a source of pride for the generations of students who will attend there. The community survey launched in early July brought more than 300 responses and more than 80 names and nearly 30 potential mascots being submitted. The 10-person committee will sort through those, discuss pros and cons, and eventually recommend a name and mascot to the Board of Trustees. You can see responses to a few of the key survey questions at the end of this article.

At their committee meeting on July 30, they saw the survey responses for the first time and expressed a desire for the school’s namesake to be local, someone with strong ties to our community; someone with a history of service; and someone with ties to the school district as a former student or an employee (or both) who made a strong impact on students.

Committee members will now take some time to look at the list of names more closely, learn about each of them, and return to the next meeting with their top few choices. The committee will look for those that overlap with each other and continue their deliberations.

After settling on a name or names to take to the school board, this committee will also recommend a mascot for the new school.

The new middle school was approved as part of Bond 2023. Construction is moving quickly, and it will open in August 2025 at 701Tripp Avenue, serving the families of West Odessa as the first middle school built outside of Loop 338.

A brief overview of the results of the community survey:

Question: What is important to you when thinking about the name of a school? Should it reflect certain values or ideals?

Top responses were Community, Values, Odessa

Question: Should the campus be named after a geographic feature such as community landmarks, the desert, or street names?

Yes: 26.4%                      No: 57%                            The rest were Unsure

Question: Should the campus be named after a person?

Yes: 67.8%                      No: 23.1%                        The rest were Unsure

From the more than 300 responses came more than 80 name suggestions.

Question: What qualities are important in a school mascot?

Top responses were Strength/Strong, Pride, Students and Community (tied)

Question: Should the mascot be an animal?

Yes: 62.4%                      No: 16.6%        The rest were Unsure

When asked what animal would be a strong mascot, the top responses were Jack Rabbit, Rhino, Hawk and Rattlesnake (tied)