Two years ago, Olentangy Local Schools announced Berlin High School would be added to the district. In the Summer of 2017, future Principal Todd Spinner took steps to decide the school’s colors and mascot.

It was announced during the Olentangy Board of Education meeting on Aug. 22 the new school’s colors will be Olentangy blue paired with light blue and the mascot will be a bear.

Berlin High School is named for the road it is on and for the township it resides in. It also is named after an original school in the township, whose district combined with Olentangy Local Schools in the 1990s.

To decide on Berlin’s mascot and colors, a survey was sent out to the entire Olentangy community in July. It received 2,500 responses, which helped narrow down the decision to 25 mascots and eight colors. Those options were sent out to the future Berlin community and received 1,000 responses.

With 10 mascots and four colors which remained, Spinner and future athletic director John Betz held meetings where they presented the options to the future Berlin classes of 2020-2022. These students narrowed down the options to three mascots and two colors. District administration  made the final decision.

“The mascot was expected since [the bear] is what people have been talking about since they said Berlin was being built. I don’t like how it doesn’t match the history aspect of the other mascots,” Courtney S. said.

Courtney is a current freshman, and will move to Berlin next year to complete her high school career.

The final design for the bear mascot will be announced on a later date. Right now, school officials are working with a professional design company to finalize the logo. Keeping to tradition, there will also be a logo contest held where students can submit their artwork.

“The color selection represents a new complimentary color to the Olentangy blue, without surrounding districts’ colors or colors from any one middle school, as students will be coming from multiple schools to Berlin High School. Additionally, it allows students to set traditions for their high school,” according to the Olentangy website.

“I’ll take a little bit from every building, but at the same time, we want to make it our own,” Spinner said.

There was a “Meet the OBHS Administration” event at 7 p.m. on Sept. 11 in the OHS theater. Spinner hoped to find parents interested in running different booster programs, so they can “get the ball rolling.”