Dan King, principal of Forks Intermediate School, provided background information on the process of selecting mascots and colors. He reported that a committee of students, certificated staff, para-educators, parents and board members met in October to recommend potential colors and mascots. Diana Reaume, superintendent of schools, provided additional information on the process of community input, regarding an open-ended survey announced to the community through the Forks Forum, Peninsula Daily News and Forks radio station.

She stressed the importance of the voice of the community as taxpayers. The open-ended survey was available to all community members on the QVSD website and through the school district office.

According to King, students and staff voted on the following mascots and colors: Eagles, Cougars, Warriors and Spartans, as well as colors of blue and green, aqua and black, blue and white, and blue and gold.

According to King and Reaume, the colors of blue and gold were the popular recommendation in both of the processes. According to the student vote of the students in grades 4-6 at Forks Intermediate School, Warriors was the most voted for, tallying 74. The sixth grade carried the Warrior votes. Spartans was the second most popular vote at 54. King said that Spartans would have come out on top when looking at the fourth- and fifth-grade votes.

According to the results of the community survey, the most suggested mascot was the Spartans. The rationale for identifying the Spartan as the mascot was for the unity of all students. More specifically, public comments suggested that Little League football players and cheerleaders already identify themselves as Spartans. A suggestion was made that why would students be Spartans on the weekend and a different mascot when returning to school on a Monday. “All students are striving to be a Spartan.” A fourth-grade Forks Intermediate School student said, “I recommend that our colors be blue and gold and that our mascot be Spartans.”

Student school board representatives on the QVSD school board talked about the importance of unification and how parents prefer not switching colors throughout the years of their student’s experience within the district.

A motion was made to name the school’s colors blue and gold, and the vote carried unanimously. A second motion was made to name the school’s mascot as Spartans and the vote carried unanimously.

Reaume recommended that the Warrior mural located by the main office, and painted by former Forks Middle School students, be honored and respected by keeping as much of it intact as possible. “We have a unique opportunity to represent the unification of our schools and students by bringing together the original artists and a few FIS students to repaint and transform the blue and white Warrior mural into a blue and gold Spartan mural,” Reaume said.