Everyone at LVA knows of the pigeon “mascot,” but it is not our mascot. LVA does not have a mascot.
In 2016, Ms. Williams started the LVA mascot committee to get LVA a mascot. According to Ms. Williams, “We had six mascots that we all could vote on.” The mascots could have been the Chameleons, the Stars, the Troubadours, the Phoenixes, the Three Musketeers, the Peacocks, and finally, just no mascot at all. These were the mascots in running, so the pigeon was not in running at all, and almost all choices had a reason.
The Chameleon was a mascot in running according to Ms. Williams, “One was the Chameleon which I liked because it reminded me of how when an ensemble piece would be happening, then someone would step forward do their solo and be highlighted differently, but then would step back and be blended into the ensemble again.”
The Las Vegas Academy Stars, according to Ms. Williams, because LVA loved to be showcased.
The Las Vegas Academy Troubadours, according to Ms. Williams, were “Someone who is great at music, languages, and art, and just encompasses all of LVA. Also, this was around where we had international studies as a major.”
The Las Vegas Academy Phoenix, according to Ms. Williams, “That got a lot of votes, but we didn’t like how it ended in an X for branding purposes.”
The Las Vegas Academy Peacock was briefly talked about for not being a choice; it doesn’t have an explanation for it, and she does not consider it to have been in the running.
Finally, they decided to just to keep the decision of having no mascot at all.
When the time came to make the decision, the past principal created a Google Form but didn’t check the box to ensure the voters were authorized students, or the box that only let a student vote once. According to Ms. Williams, “Lots of students would put in fake student ID numbers, lots of people voted more than once, and they wrote Chad the pigeon at the bottom.
Why Chad the pigeon? According to Ms. Williams, “One of the custodians at the time, at the end of lunch, would take all the random food that would be left out there, and he would love to be surrounded by pigeons, so they all flocked here. One of them was white, and everyone thought it was a white pigeon, ‘that’s weird,’ and they called him Chad the pigeon.”
In the end, Chad the pigeon got the most fake votes, but if it was looked at, what got the most actual votes was no mascot at all. The only reason why LVA has the pigeon costume is because, according to Ms. Williams, “The robotics team needed a mascot.” So, in the end, it is the robotics team’s mascot, and LVA does not have a mascot.
