Best high school mascot in Virginia: Top 10 candidates

When Annandale opened in 1954 during the Cold War, students were inspired by President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace” speech when they adopted the Atoms mascot, according to WUSA 9. The opening came nine years after the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.

Broadway’s mascot isn’t just any Gobbler, it’s Strut the Fighting Gobbler, who's a turkey not to be trifled with (evidence above).

Christchurch was built in a remote, waterfront location in 1921, so it’s the perfect spot for Seahorses. Students in 1938 chose the name Seahorses, and it eventually evolved into the Fighting Seahorses.

According to the 2020 census, the U.S. employed 3.36 million truck drivers. That’s a pretty solid-sized fan base for a high school team. According to a past student handbook, the name Truckers originated "from the large, wealthy truck farms that surrounded the village in the 1920s and 1930s."

Unlike some drifters, who continually move from place to place without any fixed home or job, these Drifters have been firmly rooted to the small town of Colonial Beach on the Potomac since the 1980s. The school's logo is a clipper ship, and its physical mascot is Pete the Pirate (see above).

The Caissons are named for the “usually 2-wheeled vehicle for artillery ammunition attachable to a horse-drawn limber,” according to Merriam-Webster. Fishburne Military can probably rest easy that the nickname is all theirs at this point.

The Flying Flucos' nickname originated in the 1940s, when a newspaper article referred to the football team as "The Flying Men of Flu.Co." (an attempt to abbreviate Fluvanna County). The students liked it, and it stuck. The school's physical mascot has varied over the years, with a caped "Flucoman" being one recent incarnation.

Norfolk Collegiate's mascot began as a donkey when the school was founded in 1948 as Carolton Oaks, but they've been the Mighty Oaks for years now. According to 13newsnow.com: "The oak tree was chosen to represent Carolton Oaks not only because of their physical presence around the residence that was first used as Carolton Oaks, but also for the representation of knowledge as a tree."

A revelator is one who reveals the will of God, and faith-based Tabernacle of Prayer Christian is the one school in the country that goes by the Revelators.

Washington High School in Norfolk was named in honor of Booker T. Washington, an African-American educator, author, orator and adviser to presidents of the United States. These Mighty Bookers often refer to themselves simply as “the Bookers,” since “Mighty” is implied when we’re talking about Booker T. Washington.