Best high school mascot in Vermont: Top 5 candidates

Fair Haven is known as the Slate Center of the Nation because of its slate quarries. Fair Haven Union not only chose to be called the Slaters thanks to the importance of slate to the town’s economy, the school’s physical Slater mascot is among the best in the nation.

From the “Why Gumby?” section on the school website: “In the late 1980s, the GMVS girls soccer team was making a run at the state championship title. After one game, a reporter asked the team what their mascot was. They looked at one another – they didn’t have an official mascot – and in a moment of creativity, one girl spoke up. ‘Well, we’re flexible, we’re agile, we’re fun…I guess we’re the Gumbies.’ The name stuck.”

Montpelier, the center of democracy as the state capital, is the Solons in honor of the ancient Greek lawmaker Solon, who's often credited as setting the groundwork for the Athenian democracy that became a model for modern democracies. And the Solons' physical mascot is Screech the Owl.

This nickname came about on the fly when a Vermont Commons volleyball coach went to register the team. Peter Goff told vtcng.com, “We were asked for a team name. The school had the turtle as part of its logo, so we said, ‘OK, we’re The Turtles.’ The woman behind the desk said, ‘The Turtles? That’s not very scary,’ so we thought a moment and said, ‘How about the Flying Turtles?’ and the rest was history.”

Woodstock's sports teams are the Wasps and its school newspaper is The Buzz. Daphne Zuniga, aka Princess Vespa from "Spaceballs," is a former Wasp. Sting, unfortunately, is not.