Will it be the Bear Park Bears or Bees? How about the Glacier Hills Dinosaurs or Yetis? Bell View and Edgemont elementary students are getting a new school, and with it, a new school name, mascot and colors to match.

Families and staff will be invited this week to declare their preferences from a shortlist of rebranding ideas generated over three months by a focus group representing both school communities. Parents will receive a survey by email and are encouraged to discuss the options with their students before responding by Friday, Sept. 18. The results will be presented to the Canyons Board of Education in October.

“We’re so grateful for the PTA, School Community Council and faculty members who met over the summer to discuss the schools’ shared histories and brainstorm ideas for a new identity,” said Julie Winfree who will serve as principal of the new school when it opens. “The focus group members made it clear they wanted to create something that would make students proud, bring the two communities together, and generate excitement about their shared campus and shared future. We couldn’t be happier with the results.”

Construction crews will break ground on the school this spring, and while the building isn’t expected to be completed until August 2022, Edgemont and Bell View started the rebranding process now so as to provide artistic direction to the architects. 

“Together, these two schools have more than 115 years of history to build upon. When we asked parents and teachers what makes their schools unique, they came up with a surprising number of shared characteristics and ideals,” Winfree said. 

Geographic features emerged as favored names. Big Bear Park is a place where the community gathers and feels a deep sense of connection. It’s also located between the two schools. Glacier Hills reflects the prominent glacier-cut canyons you see when you look east from both campuses. Little Cottonwood and Bell canyons were both cut by glaciers, which were the longest in the Wasatch Range and the only glaciers to reach the edge of what was once Lake Bonneville. 

The proposed mascots were chosen for their uniqueness or appropriateness of their connection to the names. Because both schools share blue as an official color, the focus group suggested having two shades of blue as a color scheme, or blue and white. 

Yetis or Dinos? Bears or Bees? “We can’t wait to see how the students respond to these fun, imaginative mascots,” Winfree said. 

More information about the renaming process can be found online.