New DeKalb elementary school names mascot

DeKALB – DeKalb’s newest elementary school has its mascot, and it’s got a royal ring to it.

Leadership at Dr. Leroy A. Mitchell Elementary School, which is being built at 1240 Normal Road in DeKalb, announced this week that the school’s mascot will be the Monarchs.

The selection came in an announcement during Tuesday’s DeKalb School District 428 Board meeting.

Principal Maurice McDavid said there were four finalists – the Mallards, Manta Rays, Mad Dogs and Monarchs – that were brought forward to a recent community conversation for voting among those in attendance.

“By far away, our winner was the Monarchs,” McDavid said. “We want to be Mitchell Monarchs. We’re really excited about that.”

The selected mascot entry was submitted by Anaiya Hilgen, a Littlejohn Elementary School fifth grader.

Officials had engaged students districtwide from Aug. 19 through Aug. 30, encouraging students to propose a mascot, draw it and explain why it would be good mascot for the building.

“We got over 200 entries from across the districts – lots and lots of different cute pictures,” McDavid said.

McDavid said the district was able to narrow down the entries to some finalists from across the district.

“I did, as a good teacher does, use a rubric,” he said. “We wanted to make sure that we were being fair and just.”

The next community conversation is expected to take place Oct. 17 at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 830 N. Annie Glidden Road, DeKalb.

This story was updated at 10:36 a.m. Sept. 24, 2024 to correct an earlier version which misstated the name of the church where the next community conversation will take place.