A New Era for LCH Athletics Begins with Student Creativity
This past fall, Jeremiah and other students from the Art Club stepped inside the gymnasium ready to illustrate the new mascot as a feature in the gym. They rolled out drop cloths, pried open paint cans, and pulled up their sleeves.
In one PD day, they painted the new London Christian High (LCH) Lynx mascot and logo in blue, gray, and black on the gym’s back wall.
For Jeremiah, seeing the final result had special meaning.
“This was a cool experience knowing the painting is going to be there for a while,” he says. “Maybe I’ll be able to look back in 10 years and see what I’ve created.”
A two year process
His recognition finalized a process begun two years ago.
“For many years, LCH’s sports team didn’t use a name or mascot and that’s kind of unusual in student competitions,” says John Lise, Athletic Director.
“Our previous name–Pioneers–was not readily understood by our opponents or even our students,” he adds. “The name also had negative connotations.”
To generate a new name and mascot, students were surveyed and asked to complete this sentence: ‘A great mascot for London Christian High would be…’
Art Club half way to completing the mural.
The Lynx was born
That survey garnered 100 responses. A team of school leaders examined the options, explored the meanings and distilled the list, making sure none of the names were used by nearby schools.
Near the end of the 2023/2024 school year, students were then asked to rank their top three choices.
“We received 158 responses,” says Gabriella Hoogstra, Principal at LCH. “That’s a healthy number of students who were engaged with the process and wanted to participate.”When tallied, the votes revealed a clear winner: Lynx.
“Looking at the name, our team saw what the lynx represents. Traits such as keen vision, goal-focussed and anticipatory,” adds Ms. Hoogstra, “as well as being prepared, bold, hopeful and optimistic while sometimes living in hard circumstances.”
“That’s really who we are called to be as Christian people and as Christian school students…”
Jeremiah and several other students submitted designs for the Lynx mascot logo competition. “I looked at other mascots to get some ideas, and then started sketching ideas on my digital drawing pad,” he says.
After a few iterations and revisions, an internal judging panel named Jeremiah’s design as the winner in June 2025.
Now, the Lynx mascot takes a prominent spot on the gym wall. Going forward, the logo will be unfurled in LCH marketing, athletics and communications.
This was a cool experience knowing the painting is going to be there for a while,” he says. “Maybe I’ll be able to look back in 10 years and see what I’ve created.”
