Board backs “South Marion High” as name for new school, mascot and colors to follow

Rendering of new high school in SW Marion County.

Marion County’s newest high school is closer to having an official identity after the school board reviewed the results of a months-long naming process during its Aug. 21 work session. And the name preferred by most of respondents in the two surveys was South Marion High.

Melissa Kinard, Region Three area superintendent, presented the recommendation with Ken McAteer, the principal of the school now known as new High School “CCC.”

The school is located at 1350 SW 165^th St., Ocala.

“The naming committee included community members, parents and educators from the school community,” said McAteer, who oversaw the committee. “The first survey collected suggested school names. During this survey, there were 151 responses with 83 names shared.”

After narrowing down the list to five finalists, the second survey was distributed to students, families and staff. McAteer said 406 people responded. “The final results of survey two were South Marion High, 35.2%; Summer Oaks High, 24.9%; Suncrest High, 19.2%; Victory High, 17%; and Southwest High, 3.7%,” he said.

The committee then reviewed the survey data and made its recommendation.

“The naming committee recommendation for a school name for high school CCC is South Marion High School,” McAteer told the board. The new high school is scheduled to open in August 2026.

Board members discussed the choice, with some noting it aligned with naming conventions of other district schools. District member Allison Campbell added that she checked for duplication.

“What I personally, as a board member, did not want was to have a name that is the same as three or four other high schools in the state of Florida. South Marion is the best choice all the way around,” she said.

While the board won’t formally vote until September, McAteer said the school is already moving quickly on the next step — selecting colors and a mascot.

“We’ve already started soliciting some feedback from community members and district members. What we really want for this is to get some buy-in from the students,” McAteer said. He noted he visits Horizon Academy several days each week and plans to begin gathering input directly from students in classrooms.

“We hopefully will have a mascot and colors by mid-October,” McAteer said. “For band uniforms, for colors, for different facilities within the facility, for football uniforms, for the things that we have to buy well in advance, we have to have those. Some of these things are six to nine months out.”

Board member Eric Cummings agreed that branding must be established quickly.

“We know when it opens next August, we want whatever brand to be there, and we’ll already start instilling that pride in that area for that school,” he said.