We all love Northwestern College – the one in Iowa, that is. The name “Northwestern” is a common name for various colleges and universities, making it not unique at all. If you live outside of Iowa or any “dutch pocket,” you would never think of “NW Iowa” as the real Northwestern.
This is why NW needs a rebrand. The average person thinks of NW as the university residing in Evanston, Illinois. There are many unique options our school could go by. The University of North-West Iowa, University of Orange City and Orange City College are just a few examples that anyone could quickly come up with off the top of their head.
Furthering the rebrand, a new logo and new mascot are also needed. Many of you have probably had the same thoughts as I have had and wondered to yourself, “what even is a raider?” Well, thankfully, there are smart people out there that create definitions for words. Oxford Dictionary defines a raider as “a person who attacks an enemy in the enemy’s territory; a marauder.” This is the first definition that appears when you search the word raider on the internet. Although this might not relate to the made-up definition that NW has created for the word raider, this is what most people think of when they hear the word. I do not believe ‘raider’ shows the Christian love that we are trying to make known at NW. It does not reflect any of our values well.
Orange City is a small town, but it has plenty of character and many opportunities to promote a creative rebrand. Orange City holds the headquarters of Pizza Ranch. Based on this, the mascot could potentially be the “Rancher” to show love and appreciation to Pizza Ranch. Diamond Vogel is a massive paint company that racks in billions of dollars a year, and it is located here in Orange City. Although the “Painters” do not sound very intimidating and may not make an exciting mascot, maybe another name would be more suitable and still connect well with Diamond Vogel.
A paint roller is something used to spread paint, and a “Roller” would be a better mascot that still shows appreciation and values Diamond Vogel. “The University of Orange City Rollers” doesn’t have a bad ring to it. The school could even keep the same color scheme if it wanted!
This monumental rebranding to the “Rollers” would not only make the school more unique but would also be less controversial, reflecting our Christian values better. Moreover, the name shows love to a major business in the area. The mascot being a roller would allow for many more opportunities for unique and exciting logos (that don’t include a flag). This is just one of the many examples of a rebrand that would benefit the school, increasing its popularity and preventing students from having to endlessly explain that we don’t go to school in Illinois or the Twin Cities to everyone who is not Dutch. Furthermore, this would also give students a cool logo to walk around with on their clothing rather than a random R-shaped flag.
