Gibson Ek High School, the all-new Innovative High School that opened its doors in September, will now have school colors and a mascot, thanks to a unanimous decision by the Issaquah School District Board of Directors.

At the Nov. 9 meeting, through a vote from the board, the griffins were made the new mascot of Gibson Ek High School, and bright green and gray were named the school colors.

At the Oct. 26 board meeting, two Gibson Ek students, Mose Ray and Evon Mahesh, had presented the board with their proposals for mascot and colors.

The student body of Gibson Ek chose the mascot because they felt griffins were a symbol for the population of the school.

“The griffins … represent us as a student body in the sense that they’re unique, they’re mystical and we would be the second school to have this as our mascot in the U.S.,” Mahesh said.

At first, the Associated Student Body had come up with three proposals for a mascot — the griffins, the grizzlies and the geckos.

“We realized this school is meant to have everyone’s voices to be heard,” Ray said. “We came up with a proposition to take it back to the student body and then we collected their ideas.”

Through advisory periods, the student body came up with the Griffins, the Grizzlies and the Pine Trees, and voted on the options. Surpassing the Grizzlies by 11 votes, the Griffins were the clear winners.

“I appreciate the process they went through,” Director Lisa Callan said at the Nov. 9 meeting. “They went through a process that gave a voice to everyone.”

“They did a good job,” agreed Board President Suzanne Weaver.

Ray and Mahesh stated that there were several possible spellings of the word ‘griffin,’ and the decision of which to use will be voted on by the students.