MAPS board makes tough call
Getting to Monday’s vote was no easy task
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MARQUETTE -- Positive reactions were voiced at the Marquette Area Public Schools' Board of Education meeting Monday as the panel decided the high school's new nickname: the Sentinels.
Last summer, the board voted 4-3 to abolish the Marquette Senior High School Redmen/Redettes nicknames and began the rebranding process. Since then, public input, board discussion and student advisory boards have all weighed in during the selection process.
On Jan. 8, nicknames were paired to the final eight: Cardinals, Hawks, Marauders, Reds, Redtail Hawks, Red Hawks, Redjackets and Sentinels. By Jan. 16, there were three: Redjackets, Reds and Sentinels.
Finally on Monday, Sentinels was chosen as the new nickname with a vote of 6-1.
President Kristen Cambensy, Vice President Glenn Sarka, Secretary/Treasurer James Hewitt as well as trustees Jennifer Klipp, Jennifer Ray and Cherryl Maddox-Smith voted in favor of the new name while Trustee Jason Zdunek cast the lone nay vote.
During discussion, Zdunek expressed that those he'd spoken to in the past several months of the rebranding process -- including students, community members and MSHS alumni -- supported "a name that wasn't included in the motion tonight."
He further said, "I also looked over the notes from the advisory committees and one of the notes that stuck out with me is that...the Sentinels was not connected to the community....When this process started out, I suggested that the ideal nickname would pay tribute to the unique history of our school district community so it was unfortunate when I was that comment connected with the Sentinels."
However, the Sentinels were not only the name of a recent junior hockey team, as mentioned in the Jan. 16 meeting, but also the name of a semi-pro men's hockey team in the area that preceded the Marquette Iron Rangers.
Additionally, state representative candidate Margaret Brumm sent a email to the board on Monday, morning alerting them of her purchase of the property rights to the following: Sentinels, Reds and Redjackets. Attempts to contact Superintendent Zach Sedgwick were unsuccessful.
Brumm has said she plans to address the matter publicly today.
Meanwhile, MAPS students of MSHS seemed pleased with the Sentinels choice. MSHS Student Council President Cully Papin spoke during public comment as a representative of the school's student body.
"Throughout the process of selecting a new mascot, there's been much scrutiny and criticism over how the name should be chosen and who should have a say. Although all voices are important, when choosing an identity that must stand the test of time, ultimately student voice stands above the rest as we are the ones affected now and will continue to face the effects in the future," Papin said. "As MSHS students, we're the ones who will grow, live and learn our way through this rebranding."
The majority of the student body, Papin relayed, would be more than happy with the nickname "Sentinels" as it "embodies strong imagery of bravery and honor" similar to a "protector of the community."
Trustees Ray, Maddox-Smith and Klipp thanked the students for their thoughtfulness in choosing a nickname, describing the experience as "wonderful" and "incredible."
Ray made a comment prior to the decision about a miscommunication between the school board and media covering the rebranding process.
"I know there's been a lot of discussion around Redjackets," she said. "I wish that the media had first put it together as one word and said that we were using a hornet for it, because instead it went out there as two different words which is the name of an indigenous chief."
Ray also said that the Blues and Reds baseball teams in the area requested the school board don't use the Reds nickname out of respect.
Hewitt was a supporter of the Reds nickname because he felt it was a "compromise" that could unite the community going forward as opposed to dividing it further.
"We did a lot of studying of a lot of other communities across the country (and) within the state of Michigan, who have faced the same issue and some of them have gone through it, they made the change, they never looked back, their community supported it and it went very smoothly," he said. "There are, however, many communities where once the decision was made, they weren't universally widely accepted. A new board was voted in either one, two, three years down the road. They flipped the board. They reinstated the original name, the original logo and it's been something that should've only maybe taken a year that's been drawn out for six, eight, ten years and that was my biggest fear....I wanted to go with something we could all accept."
After addressing the audience with a historical tale about the inscription on the Byzantine Empire's Hagia Sophia, Sarka went on to round out the meeting with a statement on the importance of one's actions.
"The name we chose...will not be perfect. It does not have magic to it. It will not cause us to win more games, it's not going to guarantee that you'll pass your exams this week or that reading or math skills will go up this year," Sarka said. "When we give this name to you, that's when it turns into something special."
Alexandria Bournonville can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 506. Her email address is abournonville@miningjournal.net.