Red Knights. This has been the identity of Benilde-St. Margaret’s since the merger of Benilde Highschool and St. Margaret’s Academy in 1974. In the past, the BSM student body has had no live Red Knight to rally behind. This changes now, as Benilde-St. Margaret’s has officially announced a brand new student mascot.

In a sea of red and white, one will find a new leader of the pack. From sporting events, pep fests, musicals, and even graduation ceremonies, the new Red Knight mascot Victor E. Knight will be in attendance. The mascot will be wearing a uniform or outfit for each event that it attends. For example, the mascot will wear a jersey at a hockey game and a cap and gown at a graduation ceremony. “Our goal is to have the mascot at as much as possible whether it’s athletics, whether it’s theater drama, whether it’s even graduation, the goal is even to have the mascot show up at graduation in a cap and gown. We want the mascot to wear the jersey of whatever they’re doing,” Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging director Dennis Draugn said.

Draughn played a major role in creating BSM’s new mascot. This summer, Draughn thought of the idea while brainstorming ways to bring the student body together. He wants the mascot to represent the school spirit of current students and alumni. “I wanted to represent our school spirit, represent one BSM, you know, represent us as a whole, you know, the opportunity for it to represent who we are,” Draughn said.

Around the halls at BSM, one question is abundantly clear. Who is the mascot? That is unable to be answered due to a bind of secrecy in the mascot world. However, Draughn said that there are multiple students that rotate wearing the uniform. In the future, Draughn plans on getting multiple mascot uniforms so they can be present at multiple events at once. “And then if it’s a hit we’ll get multiple ones because it can be at multiple events at once,” Draughn said.

To decide on a name for the Red Knight mascot, BSM selected ten names from a public submission to be voted on by the students, faculty, and staff. The voting spanned four days and the name was announced on Friday, September 23, at the Homecoming pep fest. King Ryan Baird and Queen Sierre Lumpkin announced the name. Victor E. Knight was then knighted and welcomed by the Benilde-St. Margaret’s community.