And so, the journey for a new logo begins.

With seven students and three faculty members, Pascack Valley’s Logo Selection Committee is preparing to hold its first meeting in the upcoming weeks. The first meeting was originally planned to be held this week; however, it was rescheduled. The 10-member Logo Selection Committee will act as a sub-committee of the Mascot Selection Committee. PV and Pascack Hills’ new nicknames, the Panthers and the Broncos, respectively, were approved at the Board of Education’s meeting on March 8. 

“We tried to keep an equal balance of students [from] different grade levels and who participated in the [Mascot Selection Committee] as well, who were vocal and took part in it,” John Puccio, PV Assistant Principal and committee organizer, said. “The goal was to create a balance of students throughout the whole committee – that was our main goal.”

The committee was limited to 10 members by the encouragement of the Camden County Education Service Commission, which will help design the logo, according to PV Director of Athletics and committee organizer Shawn Buchanan. Pascack Hills will be following the same process as PV. 

“[The commission has] has worked with many schools and companies in the past,” Buchanan said. “And that’s where [it has figured out] a healthy number [of people] for a group to make it manageable and workable within the process.”

Both logo committees from PV and Pascack Hills will work in conjunction with Lori Perlow, a consultant from the Camden County Educational Services Commission. Services from the commission were approved for district use by the Board of Education at its meeting Jan. 4. The commission works directly with school districts throughout the state on a variety of topics including media relations, public relations, and marketing/branding, according to its website.

“I’ve gotten to know Lori over the years, and one of her areas of expertise is branding, so she’s done this for schools before,” Paul Zeller, district Director of Technology and Communication, said. “We interviewed her, she showed me her portfolio, and we decided that it made sense to move forward with someone [who has] experience [working with] schools.”

The PV and PH committees will each meet separately with Perlow, who will get input from the members, which can include designs submitted by students. The ideas will then be taken to a professional designer, who will prepare several sample logos that the committee can decide to show the school to vote on, according to Zeller. 

“Our hope is to get this done by the end of the school year, but that’s not a mandate,” Zeller said. “If it takes longer, it takes longer. If it happens quicker, it happens quicker. It’s going to be what the natural progression is – not an artificial date.”

The meetings will be closed for non-members; however, Buchanan said that they will be communicating with students and faculty. 

“There will be a schoolwide vote like the mascot was,” Buchanan said. “And there will be a couple options for all students and staff to see, once it gets through the process.”

Buchanan sent an email to PV students and faculty the morning of March 17, inviting them “to submit suggestions and/or possible images for consideration for our new mascot, the Panthers.” Individuals that wish to share their suggestions should email Buchanan or Puccio. 

“We’ve already actually received [suggestions from] students who proactively shared [their ideas] with us, once the Panthers [nickname] was selected,” Buchanan said. “We’re going to be sharing [those] with the committee and the [commission]. That way, they can hopefully use that as a starting point [to kind of gauge] where some suggestions in the building are.”