The Whitehall-Coplay School District’s new mascot was front and center at the school board committee meetings Feb. 12.

Bob Hartman, athletic director, and Renee Sallit, director of teaching and learning, had presented the plan for the new mascot to the school board during its January meeting. The costume features a person with a train-shaped head wearing maroon and gold overalls, like a train conductor.

The mascot pays homage to the Zephyr - the name of a train that used to travel through Whitehall Township.

For years, Whitehall-Coplay School District has not had a physical mascot at sporting events. The goal was to give the community a recognizable symbol while engaging the student body and staff with a stronger school spirit.

At the Feb. 12 meeting, Sallit approached the board again, this time unveiling the mascot’s name.

“We had opened up name submissions a few weeks ago,” Sallit said. “We had hundreds of submissions.”

Those hundreds of submissions ended up being narrowed down to 77. The 77 names were then passed to current employees and board members who are WCSD alumni to narrow it down to five.

Those five names were Diesel, MacArthur, Big Z, Iron Zeph and Mighty Zeph. The top names were then given to students and staff members to vote on.

The name with the most votes was Big Z.

“It’s definitely creating a lot of excitement among our students,” Sallit said.

But the next question is: Who will wear it?

Sallit reported board member Fady Salloum has volunteered to wear it at times. Sallit also explained the costume will be able to be worn by multiple different people.

The mascot company said Big Z should arrive by late spring.