AMESBURY — The call has gone out for volunteers who will find the next Amesbury High School mascot.
The School Committee unanimously voted to retire the high school’s Amesbury Fighting Indian mascot in November and also directed Superintendent Elizabeth McAndrews to create a new mascot review committee that will find a new one.
Principal Danielle Ricci sent an email to students, staff and parents earlier in the week, letting them know her administration is taking applications to find roughly 17 volunteers to sit on the committee.
The committee will be comprised of three to four staff members and five currently enrolled high school students. Among the latter group, at least one member of the Student Advisory Council and a representative from the Student Council.
Additionally there will be three to four parents or guardians of current school district students, three to four community members (one will be a representative of the athletic boosters and the other an Amesbury High School alumnus), as well as Ricci, or her designee, and a School Committee liaison.
The committee is expected to host student and community forums, publish surveys and host meetings with local organization that might be impacted by the decision.
Interested volunteers will need to complete a Google form at: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdkjl1EeaQkme-KdFAPSZqGr6e7b32nBqm7nkuXk1esdj-yNg/viewform, by 3 p.m. on June 23.
Committee members will be notified of their acceptance by June 28 and a kickoff meeting will be held in the high school library at 6 p.m. on June 30.
The committee is expected to meet regularly once the 2022-23 school year begins in September.
“We will form the committee and have a kickoff meeting. Then we will come back to the table in September,” Ricci said. “I want to make this as accessible to the committee members as possible and, knowing what people’s schedules are like during the summer — particularly the students — it makes more sense to wait until school is back in session.”
Ricci said committee members must be willing to make the commitment to attend regular meetings, actively contribute and communicate, as well as participating in activities related to the review process.
No more than two options for a new school mascot, team name and color scheme will eventually be presented to McAndrews by Dec. 30.
McAndrews would then make her own recommendation to the School Committee. A final decision on the matter is expected by the end of the coming school year.
Ricci said she has heard many different possibilities for a new school mascot but gave no specifics on the matter.
“Everything I have heard has connections to local history and the Amesbury community. I think it is really important to there is local significance to whatever we decide,” she said.
Staff writer Jim Sullivan covers Amesbury and Salisbury for The Daily News. He can be reached via email at jsullivan@newburyportnews.com or by phone at 978-961-3145. Follow him on Twitter @ndnsully.
Staff writer Jim Sullivan covers Amesbury and Salisbury for The Daily News. He can be reached via email at jsullivan@newburyportnews.com or by phone at 978-961-3145. Follow him on Twitter @ndnsully.
