Can the Chargers be resurrected three decades after Pilchuck High School closed?
The idea is one of many suggestions bubbling up from an advisory group of Marysville residents, high school alumni and current students.
The panel has been asked by the Marysville School District to recommend names for four schools, including a new $79 million high school due to open by 2011.
It’s providing three to five recommendations for each school, with the Marysville School Board making the final selections.
“It’s a very serious process,” said John Garner, a committee member who holds the distinction of serving as principal at Marysville High School, Pilchuck High School and Marysville-Pilchuck High School after the campuses were merged in 1976.
“It’s a lot of pressure,” said Dave Rose, a Marysville High School graduate and now an assistant principal at MPHS.
“You can’t make everybody happy,” he said. “You really put personal feelings aside and you try to do what’s best for the community for the long term.”
Here’s a look at their name suggestions:
* New high school: Marysville-Getchell High School, Marysville-Bayview High School and Marysville-East High School.
* New elementary school: Grove Elementary, Peace-Park Elementary and Armar-Grove Elementary.
* New middle school: Asbery Middle School, Totem Middle School, Lincoln Middle School and a middle school named after the Lushootseed name for “Unity.”
The new middle school to serve grades six through eight will be converted from Marysville Junior High School, which now serves eighth- and ninth-grade students.
Marysville Alternative High School is also being renamed. Suggestions are Marysville-Mountain View High School, Colhac (Lushootseed name for leaf tree) High School and Marysville-Central High School.
Members of the committee say they’re learning local history and geography.
The “Armar” in Armar-Grove Elementary School name references Armar Road, a blending of the town names of Arlington and Marysville.
The proposed Asbery Middle School would pay tribute to the Asbery family, early Marysville merchants who donated land that is Asbery Field near the junior high.
The committee is also looking for ideas for the mascot and colors for the new high school.
High school students will be asked for input before a recommendation is sent to the school board.
Some residents suggested resurrecting the mascot and colors from the former Pilchuck High School, bringing back the Chargers and green and gold.
It’s too early on to say what will happen, Garner said.
“From my personal standpoint, I would like the Chargers to get back on the scene again with the green and gold, but the community has to be involved and the kids have to have some say,” he said.
The naming committee will meet again at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the district board room, 4220 80th St. NE.
Any name suggestions for the alternative high school or for a mascot and colors for the new high school can be sent to Jodi Runyon at the district office, 360-653-0800 or jodi_runyon@ msvl.k12.wa.us.
Reporter Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446 or stevick@heraldnet.com.
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