The National Park College Nighthawk was officially given a name Monday during halftime of the men's basketball season opener.
"Nox" the Nighthawk will be representing NPC throughout the community, about two years after the mascot was first introduced.
Students, faculty, staff and the community submitted more than 250 names for consideration. A campus committee narrowed the selection to three choices, Nox, Talon and Blue. Nox the Nighthawk was selected by an overwhelming majority with nearly 50 percent of the votes cast, college officials said.
Nox the Nighthawk represents the pride and spirit of National Park College both on campus and in the community, according to a news release.
The name was the winner out of three options submitted by the community and narrowed down by a campus committee this fall, taking approximately 50 percent of the votes according to college officials.
"I think all mascots have a name and as we were approaching his second birthday, we had a goal of at some time to name him or her," said Darla Thurber, interim vice president of external affairs for NPC. "So coming up on the second birthday, and opening season, first year NJCAA just add to the excitement, and announcing it at halftime was fun."
The name was one of the first submitted in the contest and has an interesting background according to Thurber and Melony Ritter, communications director for NPC.
"It's Greek and Latin for the word night, and Nox is also the Roman deity for night," Ritter said. "It was actually a student submission, so we were really excited about it."
During his debut Monday, the college shared a Facebook live video, which Ritter and Thurber said garnered much attention from community supporters.
"There were some responses on Facebook once it went out. The folks who obviously championed the name were verbally excited about it," Thurber said.
This is added to the community support the Nighthawk mascot has already received in the past two years.
"The kids really do like the mascot," Ritter said. "It is friendly and it's not intimidating. The students who wear the costume are really fun and engaging."
Thurber added that the mascot itself "represents the pride and the spirit of the college."
Local on 11/09/2018