Soheil Khatib Ghavami
Staff Writer
Starting in the 2022-23 school year, MVHS will have a new mascot. Recently, the parents of Mission Viejo High School students have spoken out against Pablo the Diablo. Parents and other community members have concerns about our mascot being a devil, quite literally. They claim,”Students should not be worshiping a devil, or diablo.”
They continued that students have been spotted acting possessed or hypnotized by Pablo at football games. Perhaps that’s why our student section is so involved. Parents have been seen protesting around the school, and the crosswalk near TK Burger and Taco Bell. They have created signs a stating. ,”Punish Pablo!” These concerned parents have created a social media group (Parents against Pablo or PAP on Facebook) based on the cause.
Furthermore, these parents took their concerns to the school board saying that Pablo offends their religious beliefs. Having their children worship the devil is quite frightening, and they want Pablo out. Some claims from their social media account suggested that they want Pablo replaced by their own “Angel Andy”.
They said that he would be a better example and would rather have their students go to a school that is themed by an angel rather than a devil.
The Saddlecrack Mountain school board agreed with the parents’ request and have decided that this August Mission will become the MVHS Fighting Angels. The mascot will be the aforementioned Andy. The board also decided to change the school colors from red to blue to accommodate the new mascot.
Due to the board’s decision, some students have created their own group to to keep Pablo as their mascot. One interviewed student claimed,” It is ridiculous, all of this is absurd; we love Pablo and it is almost impossible to hate or replace him.”
Other students have also given passionate statements against the parents and their whole plan to replace Pablo.
Recently, there have been many conflicts going on that many people have witnessed. It seems as if the case has brought a division to the high school. The majority of students have divided into two groups: the supporters and the rebels.
The supporters are in favor of Pablo remaining as the mascot.However, the rebels have been influenced by their parents and are protesting the cause themselves. There have been a few disputes between the groups and it seems as if the controversy is getting worse, and maybe out of hand.
In conclusion, the two different groups are creating a split between the students and the parents. The rebellious group will continue to protest and update their social media. In the coming days hopefully the Pablo problem will be solved and the disputes on campus will also slow down.
As of now, the District is not backing down from their decision, and the new name mascot will be in place in August.
This is an April Fools’ article.
