The new consolidated high school involving Hopkinsville High and Christian County High will be called Hopkinsville-Christian County Academy and likely have the nickname of the Wolfpack.
The Christian County Board of Education voted 4-1 Thursday night on the school’s name. Board member Mike Walker cast the lone ‘no’ vote.
The board solicited school names, mascots, and school colors from the public. Some in the community have taken to social media to maintain the school already had the name decided before a public poll was taken late last year.
In the survey, Hopkinsville-Christian County High School received the most votes among the staff and community. In fact, Hopkinsville-Christian County Academy received the third-most votes among the community behind Hopkinsville-Christian County High School and Christian County High School according to the survey results released by the school district Thursday night.
People could vote up to three times in the survey for the school name, mascot, and colors. Hopkinsville-Christian County Academy received 3,716 votes among students, staff, and the community. Christian County High received 3,615 votes and Hopkinsville-Christian County High School received 3,518 votes.
HCCA High School will join private schools Heritage Christian Academy [HCA] and University Heights Academy [UHA] as high schools in Hopkinsville that will have ‘Academy’ as an identifier.
The nickname Wolfpack is seen as a nod to the former Hopkinsville Attucks High School who were the Wolves before the school closed in 1967. HCCA will be the only school in the state’s history of sports to use the Wolfpack nickname, according to KHSAA archives. Wolfe County uses ‘Wolves’ as its school’s mascot.
The school colors will likely be royal blue and black — which are the secondary colors of Hopkinsville High and Christian County. Hoptown’s school colors are orange and black. Christian County’s colors are red and blue. The former Attucks High also used blue in its color scheme.
While the school board voted for the name of the new high school, the mascot and colors will be made official by the school.
Plans for the new high school, to be built at the corner of Fort Campbell Boulevard and Lover’s Lane, call for a new 3,400-seat gymnasium and a new baseball, softball, and soccer field. HCCA will play football at the Stadium of Champions and the new school would likely use the Rick Cohn Aquatic Center at Hopkinsville High for swimming unless a new pool is built at the school or in the community.
Dirt work is expected to begin at the new school between April and June. According to the school district’s three-year strategic plan presented Thursday, a farewell season of athletics at Hopkinsville High and Christian County High will be in the 2022-23 school year with practices for the consolidated school beginning in 2023-24.
Plans are for the new school to open for the 2024-25 school year which means the new HCCA High School will begin to play in athletics in 2023-24, according to the school’s strategic report.
