A wild cat, and more specifically, a lynx, is on the loose at the GESS Campus! It seems like while the students had cleared out for summer break, this lynx snuck in and made a new home of the GESS Campus. Very interestingly, the lynx can be spotted standing upright just like us humans and walking on twos instead of fours. Curious, isn’t it? Word also has it that this lynx has even slipped on the GESS sports uniform and seems to be very eager and enthusiastic; quite uncharacteristic for a wild cat, some would say.
We have decided to welcome the lynx with open arms! Afterall, there is a vacancy for a school mascot at the school and this creature seems to fit the bill too perfectly.
While we are mostly kidding, we do in fact have a new GESS Mascot in the form of a lynx! For months, various parts of the GESS community, namely the GESS Student Council, GESS External Communications Department and other members of the student body, have come together to create a mascot that we can proudly call our own.
For those interested, here is a peek into the behind-the-scenes:
Phase 1: Deciding on the Type of Mascot
In January 2020, the President of the 2019/20 Student Council, Aaron Ward officially started the mascot project with an open invitation to students to submit mascot designs.
40 different designs were submitted by students from all grades.
As a next step, a new Mascot Committee was formed with the following individuals:
- GESS Principal, Mr. Martin
- Board Member, Anne Ev Enzmann
- Two students from the Student Council
- Head of Sports, Fernando Bermudez
- Design Team Leader, Paolo Pascual
- Head of External Communications and Relations, Kirsten Moench
The committee convened to examine all the student submissions and shortlist some based on the following criteria:
- Suitability to be a mascot
- Culture fit
- Image/Perceptions
- Exclusivity (no other school should have the same mascot)
In March 2020, the shortlisted student submissions were put to a public vote in the GESS community. 1237 members of the school community participated in the poll!
The community spoke its mind and with 38% of overall votes, Wild Cat was chosen as the preferred animal for a mascot!
Wild cats being a broad category, the Mascot Committee decided to narrow the mascot down to one specific type of wild cat and decided on the Lynx which has Eurasian origins, thus echoing some of the roots of the school, and which has not been adopted by any other school in Singapore.
Phase 2: Students Deciding on the Mascot Design
In April 2020, the Mascot Design Work Group was created.
The Mascot Design Work Group consisted of:
- 2 students who had submitted a wild cat design in Phase 1, Gabino Albert and Katie Williams
- Two members of the Student Council, Sophie Anwar and Aaron Ward
This Work Group worked closed with the Head of External Communications and Relations, Kirsten Moench.
Due to the Covid19 pandemic, all meetings and discussions had to be held online over Microsoft Teams.
The Design Work Group followed certain design processes. They started with a mood board to gather different types of lynx mascot images and then the workgroup voted for their favourites. It was clear that the students were more inclined towards a more natural and friendly looking mascot as opposed to a more cartoonish style.
The vendor, Mascot Enterprise, then proceeded to design the mascot and provided their first drafts to the Work Group. The students, once again, voted on the drafts provided of the character designs.
The vendor then took the preferred design and provided a few alternatives with varying facial expressions. The three options were once again put to a vote in the Working Group of 4 students and the students were keen on picking a design that portrayed a friendly demeanour as opposed to a fierce one.
In the next stage, the students focussed on finetuning the details, focussing on getting the features and attire of the lynx right.
After almost 2 months of intense discussions and ongoing design adaptions, the Mascot design was finally approved by the student work group on 2 June 2020.
Phase 3: Physical Mascot Construction
From June onwards the construction phase of the physical 3D mascot design started. The Head of External Communications and Relations, Kirsten Moench liaised directly with the mascot production company (Mascot Entreprise) on the various stages of bringing the mascot design to life. The construction process took about 2 months.
With close attention to details and emphasis on making the mascot as presentable, attractive and likable as possible some further finetuning was made. For example, the decision was made to add blinking eyes to the mascot to make it even more animated and personable.
Once the physical mascot model was finished, the fur selection process started. Our aim was to give it a natural look and stick to the colour scheme chosen during the design process in Phase 2.
Once the fur was applied to the mascot the fur pattern had to be applied using an airbrushing technique and the sports uniform had to be produced.
The new GESS Mascot officially arrived at the GESS Campus in the second week of the Semester 1, 2020/21. We hope we can all welcome the GESS Mascot into our home and community!
In future, we will be looking for students who will be keen to don the mascot costume! We are also looking forward to making the mascot available as a soft toy in the school shop in future.
Keep your eyes peeled for the mascot might appear in person anytime!
