Wappingers High School Changes “Indian” Mascot
Roy C Ketcham is on track of changing their Indian mascot to "Storm" after students voted for the new mascot. Credit: Photo by Mackenzie Boric
The spirit of change hit Roy C. Ketcham High School in Wappingers, New York with the removal of their “Indian” mascot.
Since the founding of the high school in 1962, the school has always been heralded as the Ketcham Indians as their school sports moniker. After surveys were sent out to the students to see what new name they’d prefer, Ketchum will be referred to as the “Storm” from now on.
On April 18, 2023, the New York Board of Regents voted unanimously for all schools in New York State that have an indigenous mascot to change it by the end of the 2024-2025 academic year. It became effective on May 3, 2023. If a school does not change its indigenous mascot by the 2025 deadline, it will lose state funding.
33% of the budget for the Wappingers Central School District comes from state funding.
The push for this change started with two Ketcham alumni, Yvonne Gor and Krisy Lawlor, who created a petition to change the Indian moniker from the high school and received 700 signatures. 2020 graduate Cameron Laird followed in their footsteps that summer for the removal of the Indian mascot for the Wappingers Junior High School and got more than 2,100 signatures.
“There is a national dialogue right now and we’re evaluating things that might be offensive to a lot of people that we’ve previously let stand,” said Gor back in 2020 to the Poughkeepsie Journal.
Other schools like Nyack High School and Mahopac High School in New York have experienced petitions for changing the mascot in recent years that garnered success, per the Poughkeepsie Journal.
Leah Brand, a Nyack graduate, also launched her petition in the summer of 2020 to invoke change to Nyack’s indigenous mascot. This petition received 1,100 signatures.
Heather Bruegl, part of the Stockbridge-Munsee tribe that was one of the first inhabitants of the Hudson Valley said to the Poughkeepsie Journal, "So many dehumanizing things happened to us throughout the history of the country, and having our people depicted as mascots has always felt like another dehumanizing thing."
The new change to “Storm” has some Ketcham students underwhelmed with one describing it as “generic,” and “uninspiring.”
“I don't believe the name 'Storm' is a symbol of strength or ferocity, two of the qualities that the Indians were known for,” said Kathryn Hotle, a senior softball and soccer player. She added that she feels it doesn’t represent the unique identity the high school holds.
Across the state as a whole, many schools are experiencing similar events. While 55 school districts in New York have an indigenous mascot, more than a dozen are on Long Island. Local tribes in this area are speaking about this change and the good it’s done for communities on Long Island and elsewhere.
“The mascot has been demonstrated both emotionally and medically to be damaging to Native children, who see that as a humiliation of their culture and their way of life," said Chief Harry Wallace of the Unkechaug Indian Nation.
With New York being one of the latest states to impose this ban, the wait begins to see which other states follow suit. The latest push has been in Massachusetts, with the spark created by indigenous tribes and activists speaking about the remaining 23 schools that hold onto those mascots.
“If we cling to something offensive to others, what kind of message is that sending to the kids?” said Gor.