The Los Altos High School library has just introduced a new mascot. Paca Mia — a small Boston terrier with a love for attention — can now be found in all places library-related.

This is the library’s second year with a mascot, which is displayed on the announcements page on the school website, at the library entrance, and on emails and posts. 

“The mascot is a symbol of the library,” librarian Gordon Jack said. “It’s like winning a beauty pageant.”

The mascot competition was open to the pets of all staff and students. This year, the library received twice as many applications as last year. Overall, 37 pets were submitted—23 dogs, 13 cats, and 1 bunny. 

Before the voting began, people submitted pictures of their pets through a QR code in the library. Jack removed the backgrounds of the pictures and displayed them on signs on top of the library tables. Students at the library sent in their votes for the best pet.

“I wanted my pet to be recognized for her cuteness,” junior Aaron Zhu said.

Out of 223 votes, Spanish teacher Terri Salsman de Rodriguex’s dog Paca Mia won 27.8 percent of them.

Paca Mia is a 2-year-old Boston terrier with an energetic and lovable personality, as well as a story behind her name. 

“My dad would never allow me to have pets when I was little and I desperately wanted a dog,” Salsman de Rodriguex said. 

She named her first dog Dulcinea, after a character from the novel Don Quixote. All of her following pets were named after literary characters until she got cocker spaniel Lola. But her youngest dog inspired her to return to literary names. 

“This was the longest I’d ever thought about a dog’s name,” Salsman de Rodriguex said. 

After a long period of deliberation, she and her husband finally decided on Paca Mia, named after Paco y Lola, the book her husband read when he first learned to read.

“We changed Paco’s name to Paca, so now we have Paca y Lola,” Salsman de Rodriguex said. “It’s kind of silly, but that’s how we got there.”

“She’s very cuddly, loves to be with people, and always will sit next to you.” Salsman de Rodriguex said. “When I tell her, ‘Come on, let’s put on a costume,’ she seems to prance around the house. She feels special.”

Besides Paca Mia’s attention-seeking personality, Salsman de Rodriguex submitted her picture in an effort to build community. 

“I support lots of different things on campus,” Salsman de Rodriguex said. “I think this one was a fun way for people to learn about each other.”

“I love love love love dogs, and she’s my youngest one,” Salsman de Rodriguex said. “So I thought, ‘why not support the library by seeing if Paca can be its mascot for the year?’”