At their recent meeting on Nov. 22, the Mascot Renaming Study Group narrowed down their list of nine mascot options to a shortlist of five: Eagles, Falcons, Nor’Easters, Thunder and Titans.

The Study Group, led by Assistant Superintendent of Operations Keith Lavoie, made this reduction based on community input, notably through a survey sent out to students and staff that closed on Nov. 19.

“After more than 1300 responses to a survey of the community, thousands of interactions through polling on social media and opportunities to speak with students, we were able to synthesize the responses and reduce the mascot options to five,” Lavoie said in an email sent to ARHS faculty and staff on Monday, Nov. 29.

The survey results revealed the Eagles as the current most popular option, with 290 respondents ranking it as their first choice. Second came the Thunder, with 227 first-choice selections. Meanwhile, 215 respondents favored the Nor-Easters, 112 voted for the Titans, and 107 selected the Falcons.

Moving forward, the Renaming Study Group will organize visual prototypes for each of the five options, which will ultimately factor into the final vote.

“Being able to visualize what the mascot will look like has always been a critical part of the process,” Lavoie said in the email.

With the shortlist and visual renderings finalized, Superintendent Gregory Martineau and the Renaming Study Group will proceed to submit their five options to the Regional School Committee (RSC).

“With [the RSC’s] approval, the student body will participate in a ranked-choice vote to determine the next mascot of Algonquin Regional High School in January 2022,” Lavoie said in the email. 

Lavoie encourages anybody with questions or concerns to reach out to [email protected].