School for the Deaf’s new mascot art revealed at homecoming celebration

SULPHUR, Okla. – Deaf community leaders joined Oklahoma School for the Deaf alumni, educators, staff and students on October 2 for an exciting reveal of the school’s new Bison logo and artwork during OSD’s homecoming celebration.

Oklahoma Rehabilitation Services Executive Director Melinda Fruendt greeted the crowd in the Ken Brown Gym at the Larry Hawkins Activity Center in with a video welcome.

A committee of students, staff, coaches and alumni who guided the search for the new school logo design dropped a black curtain to reveal artwork of a muscular green bison with a fierce look on his face.

OSD Superintendent Chris Dvorak congratulated artist Nathan Fylstra whose logo design and related artwork won the competition.

Fylstra, who is Deaf, is a longtime OSD employee on the student life staff.

After OSD chose the Bison to replace the Indians as the official school mascot in July, Fylstra then worked closely with the logo committee to bring six Bison design concepts to life for initial online and run-off votes of people directly connected with the school.

DRS Media Specialist Bryson Pruitt added different colors and fonts requested by the committee and converted the file to vector format. 

“It was a team effort,” said Trudy Mitchell, director of student life, OSD graduate and member of the logo team. “We are very proud of the results.”

“As we promised, OSD respectfully retired the Indians mascot to honor our tradition and preserve our at OSD’s Betty S. Fine Museum on the Sulphur campus,” OSD Superintendent Chris Dvorak said.

 “While we honor and respect our traditions at OSD, we are happy to begin an exciting new chapter in our school history with Bison as our new mascot,” Dvorak said.

The Betty S. Fine museum was open throughout the day for visitors to view Indian memorabilia and other historical items.

Freshman candidates Alexis Seals and Landen Fewel were crowned OSD’s 2021 homecoming king and queen.

The royalty court included sophomores Hannah Dunn and Elijah McKenna; juniors Cayden Ducharme and Melissa Angel; and seniors Nacorra Johnson and Pablo Gomez.

The OSD girls’ volley team won their game 3 to 1 against Iowa School for the Deaf.

OSD’s football team lost a close game to arch rival New Mexico School for the Deaf with a score of 59 to 55.

Fans also enjoyed an OSD alumni volleyball game.

For more information about Oklahoma School for the Deaf, visit https://www.osd.k12.ok.us/ or phone 580-622-4900.

OSD is a division of Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitation Services.

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