LRHS Warriors vote for new look

New LRHS Warriors logo designed by student Autumn McDonald

New LRHS Warriors logo designed by student Autumn McDonald

Liverpool Regional High School has a new logo to represent the Warriors.

The winning design features a shield with a small letter W in the top right corner and three swords crossing behind from corner to corner and down the center.

Students were asked to vote last week for one of four final submissions and selected 15-year-old, grade 10 student, Autumn McDonald’s logo.

“It is pretty neat that my design is going to be used for a couple of years to come,” said McDonald.

Principal Souhail Soujah says he hopes the design will be in use for more than a couple of years.

Soujah says the idea of using a shield in the design is a great way of representing what it means to be a warrior.

“It fits right in with the ideology that a warrior is somebody who protects others, who stands up for the weak or for those who need protection,” said Soujah. “It works on many levels.”

The decision to replace the Warriors image of an Indigenous man wearing full traditional headdress was made by the students themselves late last year.

Many in the community spoke out against replacing an image that has been tied to the school for generations.

But current students felt using the image of someone from another culture in this way was inappropriate and no longer represented who they are.

This is not the first time McDonald’s art has been chosen to represent the school.

The cover of the Liverpool Regional High yearbook will feature another of her designs.

She is happy the students liked what she did enough to vote for her work. She says her friends have been very supportive.

“Some of them said they weren’t really surprised and others said they were very proud of me,” said McDonald.

She designed the image by first drawing a freehand sketch then using an app on her iPad to put together a polished submission.

McDonald has agreed to further refine her design to provide the school with a few options that can be used for a variety of applications.

Soujah says the SAC has set aside some money to get a copy of the new image into students’ hands in the next few weeks. He wouldn’t say how the logo will be delivered, only that it will be a surprise for all students.

Reported by Ed Halverson 
E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

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Liverpool high school is retiring its mascot

Liverpool Regional High School.

Liverpool Regional High School. Photo credit Ed Halverson

A new face will be leading the charge for the Liverpool Regional High School Warriors.

Principal Souhail Soujah said some students brought forward concerns about the school using a native chief in full headdress as their mascot.

He said the administration listened to the students and decided to survey the entire school to find out if the rest of the student body felt the same.

“We have a lot of kids who feel very strongly about the logo itself; it not being appropriate, not being sensitive, not being inclusive to our First Nations students and partners,” said Soujah. “So, moving forward, we will be retaining the name Warriors but we will be changing the mascot for something more appropriate.”

While this is Soujah’s first year at LRHS, he knows the conversation about changing the mascot has gone on for years. He said school should be an inclusive place where no one is made to feel uncomfortable.

“We don’t want anyone’s culture to be our mascot, I don’t think that’s appropriate. Consequently, we feel that it’s time for a change and something new that’s more appropriate, more in line with the times that we live in and again, being inclusive and supportive of everybody in our community,” said Soujah.

Liverpool Regional High School is retiring their mascot

The current logo being retired by Liverpool Regional High School

The idea to change the logo came from conversations between a group of students, First Nations representatives, and district educational personnel where they discussed the inappropriateness of using the image.

The group decided to move away from the image but keep the name and they are now in search of a new logo.

Soujah said the student body is being asked to submit an sketch or an idea for an image to replace the existing one. He recognizes changing traditions, even with the best intentions, can sometimes be controversial, which is why it’s important the move to change the mascot is being driven from within the school community.

“We know this can be a very polarizing endeavour but we know it’s the right thing to do and the kids are fantastic,” said Soujah. “I mean this is what we want. We want our youth to be leading the way, right? So we want to support them in every way and we’ll deal with the negativity as it comes.”

Soujah said it’s important for everyone to have input on the new logo. He expects if the student body can agree on a new design they could be unveiling the face of the LRHS Warriors before the end of the school year.

Reported by Ed Halverson 
E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson