History of the Hanover High School Mascot

On March 17th, 2021, the Hanover High School Council officially approved — by a vote of 38 yea, 2 nay, 2 abstain — a motion that removed the Marauder as the mascot of Hanover High School. The final decision was the culmination of over seven months of debate, information gathering, and committee work and represents a step towards making HHS a more welcoming and inclusive community.

Mascot Timeline

September 16, 2020: Changing the marauder was an open agenda discussion item
October 28, 2020: Motion introduced to remove the HHS marauder
January 16, 2021: Motion failed due to a general lack of consensus among Council members that there was a lack of answers to questions and appropriate follow-up plans.
December 15, 2020: Motion to create a Mascot Ad Hoc Committee
March 10, 2021: The Mascot Ad Hoc Committee presented its final report to Council
March 10, 2021 & March 17, 2021: Council Discusses the New Mascot Motion
March 17, 2021: Motion passes
May 16th, 2021: Phase I of the New Mascot selection Process begins. The Values subcommittee solicited information and recommendations for values and potential mascots.
June 11, 2021: Voting for the new mascot opened with the following information
September 10, 2021: The Mascot Selection Committee Meeting was announced to students and the mascot names were announced
October 6, 2021: Design Competition Prize Motion
April 26, 2022: Voting for the Bears Mascot design opened
March 2, 2022: Council officially adopted the “Bears” as our new mascot’s name
May 11, 2022: Council officially adopted Ani Menkov’s Bear design

History of HHS Mascot

As part of the Mascot Ad Hoc Committee, a history subcommittee was formed whose goal was to research and understand the history behind the word “marauder”, the context of marauders in history, and the history of the mascots of HHS and why they were chosen.

The history of the mascot, and particularly the marauder, was a key piece of the debate and one that was been widely disputed, based on different sources and searches. The research of the Mascot Ad Hoc Committee sought to addresses the marauder in all of its capacities, and did not assign a certain definition to the word, in terms of both its connection to Hanover or its connection to the broader world. It is also important to note that a small portion of the research done for the History Committee was from word of mouth or from appearances in only one location. All of the information is correct to the best of the committee's knowledge.

Etymology of Marauder

According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word “marauder” from maraud "rascal" (15c.), a word of unknown origin, perhaps from French dialectal maraud "tomcat," echoic of its cry. This source states the definition of the word as: "to rove in quest of plunder, make an excursion for booty”. The Encyclopedic Dictionary of International Law also has a similar definition: Marauders are individuals moving, either singly or collectively in bands, over battlefields, or following advancing or retreating forces, in quest of booty . They have nothing to do with warfare in the strict sense of the term; but they are an unavoidable accessory to warfare, and frequently consist of soldiers who have left their corps. Their acts are considered to be acts of illegitimate warfare, and they are punished in the interest of the safety of either belligerent.
In talking to Professor Hannah Appel, Economic Anthropologist at University of California - Los Angeles, about the time period of the word, she indicated the term marauder would have been most prominently referring to an “era both of the building of the main European empires in the ‘new world’ - so French, Spanish, Portuguese, English and Dutch Colonialism in North and South America, Asia, Africa, and beyond... This is also the era of the transnational slave trade”. She also commented that “It is probably safe to say that what ‘marauders’ were ‘marauding’ for in this era [17th-18th Century] was other people's wealth, (stolen) labor and life, and land”. Professor Appel also referenced etymological roots of the word marauder, including, “Spanish merodear, German marodiren, marodieren ‘to maraud,’ marodebruder ‘straggler, deserter"’”’.

Middlebury Professor of Linguistics, Netta Avineri, had similar views on the subject.
In her interview, she stated that mascots are symbolic of values, character, and history, as well as that plunder means to “rape and steal what is not yours”. She also questioned how students would feel calling themselves “the rapists” or “marauders”, particularly in front of those who had been affected by sexual assault. In her opinion, the word still carries the historical past. It could
be reclaimed, however being the mascot of Hanover High School would not be the place to do that. She also acknowledged that today’s connotation of the word is different, but it still carries past definitions.

Chelsey Kivland, Professor of Anthropology with a focus on Gender and Violence at
Dartmouth, was also interviewed for this committee. She stated that the marauder is a “masculine symbol of violence” and supports “strength, masculinity, power, violence”. She also discussed that, while the marauder has had many different meanings, “they all necessitate the disregard/disrespect to others”. She also compared this decision to removing the Confederate monuments, saying “it's not like we're advocating for removal from public memory... [we are] advocating for a new place in public memory”.

Historical Timeline of the HHS Mascot

**The following timeline was been compiled through interviews and contacting HHS alumni, staff members, community members (see History Timeline Contact List), INDE yearbooks, and School Board meetings from 1948-1952**

Prior to 1950, records and interviews did not indicate any official mascot. There are
references to HHS students being the “Red Raiders” or “The Maroon”. There are also mentions of the teams being referred to as the “marauders” before the official change, but we were unable to find such examples in our study of the records. In 1951, the marauder was adopted through a contest in the Pen of Iron (HHS’s current creative writing anthology) and was designed by Joan Harriman. Ms. Harriman won through a contest, likely held the year before, 1949-50. For her design being selected, she was awarded a free pass to the Dartmouth Skiway. There is no record of a mascot change in any of the school board minutes from 1948-1952.
Reference to the Marauder first appears in the Hanover High School newspaper, the Harpoon, and the HHS Yearbook, the Inde, in 1953. It is possible that the Marauder was introduced in 1952, however, the HHS archive has no copies of the HHS newspaper from 1952. There is no mention of the Marauder in the 1952 Inde.

In looking through all yearbooks we have access to, there is no marauder imagery prior to 1985. Instead, a maroon “H” appears on many uniforms. In 1986, the mascot was changed to the “Three-Toed Sloths” as a prank, and was changed back a week later. In 2005/2006, a former art teacher, Peter Lang, but there is no information to why or to what body it was introduced to (likely Council or a meeting of the Department Coordinators).

Lebanon High School Mascot

Prior to 1949, Lebanon High School (LHS) was referred to as the “Red and White”. In 1949, the term “Red Raiders” first appeared to describe the football team. William Murphy, Hanover High School social studies teacher, did note that the term “raider” was connected to the term “marauder” after a dispute in the 60’s between the cheerleading squads of the two schools.
Around 1968, Lebanon adopted Agamek, a Native American peace-keeper, as its mascot. In 1998, the LHS administration decided to eliminate the usage of Agamek as a mascot, keeping him as the official “mascot”, but he no longer appears on any gear or in any written documents.
In addition, the painting of Agemek on the gym floor was replaced, after having not been renovated since the early 70’s. In 2002, an ad hoc committee was formed to officially replace Agamek. The committee was made up of two teachers, two students, two members of the community, and an alum. The committee then held a mascot design contest throughout the whole Upper Valley and received hundreds of entries. These were then narrowed down to three top choices. These three choices were voted in a referendum to the students, and the Viking won with over 50% of the votes, and was subsequently approved by the school board. The Viking remained the LHS mascot for two years, before being replaced due to concerns about the connotation of the name, regarding pillaging and violence. LHS then adopted the raider bird as the mascot, but again had to change on account of a potential copyright lawsuit by a university who had trademarked the bird logo. Lebanon agreed to have a trademark symbol in order to avoid this, but the mascot ended up being changed to the “L”, which is the same one that they use today.

Merrill's Marauders

“Merrill’s Marauders” was the nickname of the 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional). It was a “United States Army long range penetration special operations jungle warfare unit” (Wikipedia), and was composed of 3000 volunteers from across the country and fought in the Japanese-occupied jungles of Burma. The unit travelled over 800 miles in 3 months in order to recapture a strategic airfield. The marauders were highly successful, despite often being vastly outnumbered by opposing armies. On October 17th, 2020, the unit was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for “bravery and outstanding service in the jungles of Burma during World War II” (Congress.gov).
The unit was led by General Frank Merrill, who, in 1948, became the New Hampshire highway commissioner. He lived in North Woodstock, NH, roughly 40 miles from Hanover High School. According to Nancy Hayward Mitchell (HHS alum), he was “well-known” to many students. The timing of his return corresponds directly with Harriman’s mascot design, as both would have been around 1949. In addition, multiple HHS alumni and current teacher Mr. Murphy brought up the unit independent of being asked by the committee. There is also no documented confirmation of this connection between Merrill’s Marauders and the Hanover High School marauder, though sources likely suggest that it was an influence.

Background on the Changing of the HHS Mascot

Hanover High School Council began discussing the Hanover High School Mascot, the
marauder, on September 16th, 2020 as an open agenda discussion item. On October 28th, 2020, the original mascot motion was made to remove the HHS marauder. On January 16th 2021, this motion failed due to a general lack of consensus among Council members that there was a lack of answers to questions and appropriate follow-up plans. The failure of this motion was followed by a motion (Mascot Ad Hoc Committee Motion) to create the Mascot Ad Hoc Committee. The intent and purpose of the committee was:

To determine the process of replacing the mascot.

Specific Duties:

a. To clear up the language of the motion.
b. To create an action plan for the mascot transition
c. Find rough figures for the cost.
d. Find how long the transition would take in total, including how long until the astroturf and gymnasium floor will be replaced.
e. Reintroduce the motion back to Council by the first meeting of March 2021, if not
sooner. (Under the unlikely event of the Ad hoc committee ceasing to meet, the
Mascot Motion in its current form will be returned to Council.)

At the first meeting, two chairs were elected and the Mascot Committee was divided into 6 sub-committees: Financial, Community Outreach, History of the Marauder and Mascot Changes, Alternative Mascot Designs, Bylaw Logistics and Dresden School Board.Each sub-committee elected a point person and met roughly once a week. The whole mascot committee met once every two weeks, over zoom, during the Friday Study block. On the alternating Fridays, the point people met with the chairs.
On Wednesday, March 10th, the committee’s chairs reintroduced the original mascot
motion in a new form. The content of the motion is as follows: “J move to remove the Marauder as the mascot of Hanover High School”.

The rationale for the change was rooted in a desire to make the school a more inclusive community. Specifically,

The act of marauding has been and continues to be associated with violence, including sexual violence, pillaging, and the destruction of communities
The act of marauding has been and continues to be associated with the development of the transnational slave trade and colonization efforts
The Marauder image is of a white male, which is not representative of the diversity of racial and gender identities in the HHS community
We wanted to listen to, signal our support for, and address the concerns raised by community members from marginalized groups, as we recognize that the voices of these individuals have often been discounted

Council’s Response the Marauder in 2021 at the time of the passing of the motion:

Although the school is moving forward without the Marauder as our mascot, this decision in no way casts shame or negative light on its use in our past. The Marauder is a part of the proud history of this school; Council recognizes its importance to our alumni and current school community, and Council honors and appreciates that history. Marauder gear currently owned by students, staff and community members is still welcomed in our building. At the same time, Council asks that sports teams and other school organizations stop using the Marauder on any new gear purchased. A new committee (see below) will be in touch with team captains as the transition to the new mascot takes place.

Who Has Jurisdiction Over the Mascot?

As part of the Mascot Ad Hoc Committee, a Dresden School Board and Bylaws Subcommittee was formed to interpret the bylaws and determine the process and follow through of any motion created by the body.

Jurisdiction

Article II of the Hanover High School Council Bylaws states that “The Council shall have the authority to act on all matters at Hanover High School not controlled by school board policy, state law, administrative regulations established by the Superintendent of Schools, and rules and regulations published in the Student Handbook of Hanover High School.” Dresden School Board Chair McConnell and Dresden School Board Member Odell
reviewed the Board’s policy and they concluded that “we [the members of the Dresden School Board] don’t have specific board policy on the mascot,” and so the Board does not have jurisdiction over Hanover High School’s mascot. Through a quick internet search, Ms. McConnell and Mr. Odell found a “few cases where the board actually made a decision to change or name a mascot,” and because of that precedent, “it could be expected that the board
has that authority” over Hanover High School’s mascot. Despite this, Ms. McConnell and Mr. Odell’s research “didn’t reveal any state statute that puts the authority for naming a mascot with the school board.” The Dresden School Board’s research is consistent with this subcommittee’s findings that the Council has jurisdiction over changing the mascot.

There are no state laws, administrative regulations established by the Superintendent of Schools, or rules and regulations published in the Student Handbook of Hanover High School that have jurisdiction over Hanover High School’s mascot.

Because the subject of Hanover High School’s mascot is “not controlled by school board policy, state law, administrative regulations established by the Superintendent of Schools, and rules and regulations published in the Student Handbook of Hanover High School,” the Council has the authority to remove a current mascot and introduce a new mascot.

Process

According to Linda Addante, the Council Executive, “a resolution is essentially an
elaborate, formally written motion.” Though “Robert's [Rules of Order] tells us that a resolution is used when the motion is of great importance or is very long” and the Mascot Committee recognizes that Hanover High School’s mascot is an issue of great importance, “in parliamentary procedure the resolution is often used to express the body's approval or disapproval of something which they cannot otherwise vote on, due to the matter being handled by another jurisdiction, or being protected by a constitution.” Because the Council has the authority to change the mascot, Dresden School Board and Bylaws Subcommittee does not recommend using the resolution format. According to the Mascot Ad Hoc Committee Motion, the committee will “reintroduce the motion back to Council by the first meeting of March 2021, if not sooner.” In order “to draft the best possible version of the Mascot Motion,” our subcommittee recommends that the Mascot Ad Hoc Committee draft a motion and not a resolution.

The motion and the accompanying committee report will be presented to the Council by the date outlined in the Mascot Ad Hoc Committee Motion. The motion and accompanying committee report will be presented to the Dresden School Board during the March School Board meeting.

The Council follows Robert’s Rules of Order: therefore, the Mascot Motion will be debated and voted on according to Robert’s Rules. The Council must have a quorum present to hold a vote on the motion. A majority vote is needed to pass the motion unless the organization’s rules specify otherwise. Article X of the Hanover High School Council Bylaws states that “a two-thirds vote of the membership present will be required to change any of the bylaws”; however, the Mascot Motion is not a bylaw revision and is therefore not subject to a two-thirds vote.

Our subcommittee recommends that the Council conducts a roll call vote on the Mascot Motion. Article XI of the Hanover High School Council Bylaws states that “a roll call vote may be requested on any vote. A vote will be taken on whether to have a roll call vote. The vote will require one-third to pass. This is not debatable.”

If a motion is approved by the Council, the motion will be sent to the Principal for approval.

If a motion is approved by the Principal, the mascot will be changed. The process for selecting a new mascot will be outlined in the Alternative Design Subcommittee Report.

Financial Implications of Changing the Mascot

As part of the Mascot Ad Hoc Committee, a Financial Subcommittee was created to determine the financial impact of changing the mascot at the high school, including to “find rough figures for the cost.”

Members of our committee did the following:

Communicated via email with Jim Logan, HHS Interim Principal
Spoke and communicated via email with Tony Daigle, SAU 70 Director of Facilities, about facilities
Spoke with members of the Dresden School Board Subcommittee
Spoke and communicated via email with Jamie Teague, SAU 70 Business Administrator about district-wide financial matters
Spoke with Kelly McConnell, chair of the Dresden School Board
Worked with the Athletics Department to determine where the Marauder mascot appeared on uniforms and other athletic equipment
Connected with Megan Sobel (Athletic Director), Celina Lariviere (assistant to the Athletic's Office), and as many team captains as possible
Reviewed all available uniforms to determine precisely which ones have a “Marauder”

Findings

The Marauder mascot is present in many ways on campus: from venues, to clothes, to murals, to websites, and beyond. This motion does not require an immediate purge or even a complete purge of the Marauder. In addition, this motion does not address where “Marauders” should be changed or when “Marauders” should be changed. We believe that these are important questions that should be considered if the motion is passed. We also believe that these questions DO NOT need to be answered before the motion is debated/voted on. Indeed, a commitment to a
new mascot necessarily comes before the implementation of a new mascot; likewise, a commitment to a new mascot does not necessitate the erasure of all instances of a prior mascot. Relatedly, individuals in leadership positions have remarked that financial costs should not be the primary consideration with regards to deciding whether or not to support this motion.
For instance:

In an email to one of our members, HHS Interim Principal Jim Logan stated, “I don’t think financial matters should be considered when making a change to the marauder mascot.”
In a call with one of our members, Dresden School Board Chair Kelly McConnell said, “This decision will have financial ramifications, but those consequences shouldn’t be the primary driver of the decision... The rollout is a separate decision from what values the HHS community wants our school and mascot to embody.”

Per Chair McConnell’s quote regarding our “values,” here is a link to the HHS “Mission
Statement.”
While this motion is strictly about a commitment to a new mascot, we have done our best to answer many of the questions that would arise if the motion is passed. A common thread has connected the answers we’ve found: venues, clothes, websites and more are updated regularly. Old or outdated text/iconography will/can be replaced during an object’s typical lifecycle. When changes to objects are aligned with their typical lifecycles, then the additional cost to change a given object is $0. Therefore, a possible path forward incurs a minimal additional financial cost to the school, students, families, or taxpayers.
However, if the motion is passed, there may be a desire to cut short the typical lifecycle of some objects (e.g., uniforms). In these cases, additional funds will need to be raised. We have found various possibilities for fundraising, including:

Outside sources of funding, as noted by RMS Principal Tim Boyle
- E.g., we are prepared to draft and submit a proposal to the Jack & Dorothy Byrne Foundation, which has a history of generously supporting Upper Valley institutions
A school-based fundraising committee focused solely on paying for mascot-related changes, which Marie D’ Amato has volunteered to lead
Selling advertising to display at various athletic events/venues
- Officially sanctioned with some restrictions per School Board policy
Raising the participation fee from its current amount of $150
- Per Jamie Teague, this change would have to be approved by the School Board
  and could not be implemented in SY 22-23
- Numerous equity-related concerns have been brought up with regards to raising
  the participation fee; therefore, we do not recommend this route

We believe that the creativity of the HHS community could be harnessed to come up with additional possibilities should the call for funds be put out there by Council after passing the current motion.
In a call with one of our members, Chair McConnell summed up these possibilities as follows: “It could be anywhere from free to six-hundred thousand dollars depending on how things will be phased in. It’s likely not going to be one of the extremes but somewhere in that range. My guess would be towards the lower end of that range.”

Outline of Costs

Outline of Costs

Below, we have included a wealth of financial-related information that should provide clarity on the typical lifecycle of objects and how much is budgeted/spent when they are replaced. (*Note this report is from 2021 and the costs are from 2021)

Turf field

Cost to replace: ~$500,000
Lifecycle: Next replacement is scheduled for 2029
Who is responsible: Factored into the school’s/district’s budget, which is funded by taxpayers

Note: SAU 70 Business Administrator Jamie Teague approximated the cost to update the logo without a full-carpet replacement as $16,000-$27,000

Gym floor
Cost for a resurfacing: $12,000-$16,000
Lifecycle: Next resurfacing is scheduled for 2030
Whois responsible: Factored into the school’s/district’s budget, which is funded by taxpayers

Note: SAU 70 Business Administrator Jamie Teague wrote that the logo could be removed/updated for approximately $2,600 if it’s done as a part of the regular routine maintenance cycle

Uniforms
Cost: Varies per team
Lifecycle: As needed
Who is responsible: “Friends of” organizations where applicable or a given team via their typical budget allocation
In an email to one of our members, Athletics Director Megan Sobel clairfied, “There is not a separate budget for uniform replacement. There is an equipment budget for each sport and also a General Athletics budget. Typically when uniforms are purchased with district funds it is from one of those budget areas. Each sport has their own equipment budget, but usually not enough to cover new uniforms. If we have money left over from other programs in the equipment budget, we transfer money to cover uniforms. Some sports purchase their own uniforms with Friends (or fundraised money). Very few teams have individuals purchase their own uniforms...But for many sports, Friends groups purchase them since the school budget does not always have enough to cover uniforms.”

Note: The majority of uniforms DO NOT contain references to “Marauders” per
our inventory

Non-uniform “swag” purchased by athletes
Cost: Varies by team/athlete
Lifecycle: Most “swag” is purchased on an annual basis; some “swag” is purchased once during an athlete’s time in high school
Who is responsible: Athletes, families, and “Friends of” organizations where applicable

Scoreboards
Cost: $5,000-6,000
Lifecycle: Unknown
Who is responsible: Factored into the school’s/district’s budget, which is funded by taxpayers
Finally, other financial costs of note include:

3/14/21
Hiring a design firm
Cost: <= $20,000
Note: Members of the HHS community could come up with and design a -new/updated mascot and visual identity, likely for $0; there would also likely be many non-financial-related benefits to keeping this work in-house
Even in this case, there would likely still be a (smaller) cost associated with polishing the design and providing useable images (e.g., high-resolution digital files)

Enacting an educational campaign within the broader community to help explain the impetus behind the change
Printing new letterhead and other office supplies
Updating the website and other outward-facing materials
Note: The “Marauder” does not prominently feature on the Hanover High School website; however, it is features on the HHS Athletics website
HHS Computer Science teacher Jason Hirschhorn has volunteered to help edit websites and other digital properties

Community Outreach

As part of the Mascot Ad Hoc Committee, a Community Outreach subcommittee was created to look into the opinions and effect the change of mascot could have on members of the community beyond the current HHS students and staff, as well as communicate the intents of the committee to the greater community.

Richmond Middle School Survey
The committee determined that the most important community to survey is that of the future Hanover high school. As stated by the financial committee, this change would likely take place over a long period, such as 10 years. This means that this decision will affect the future classes, such as the current Richmond Middle School (RMS) students, more than current students. Students were asked if the marauder should be removed as the HHS mascot and given the options of “Yes”, “No”, “No Opinion”. Both students and parents were given a chance to respond with comments, enclosed in a document below. Each student needed parental approval before filling out the survey. Of the roughly 300 RMS students, 200 were granted permission and received the survey in their school email in-boxes. 109 of these 200 submitted a response.

Alternative Design

As part of the Mascot Ad Hoc Committee, an Alternate Mascot Design Committee was formed to determine the process of determining a possible new mascot. It was the alternative design process brought forward by this subcommittee that was put into place once the Marauder Motion passed.

Initial Survey

The first action of the committee was to create a survey to be sent out to the whole school about a new mascot if the marauder were to be eliminated. (Key Survey Questions and Explanations). 315 students and staff members responded to the form. Prominent ideas throughout school currently include a Moose, Maroon Crush, and the Hanover H.

Replacement Process

The committee then determined that, if the mascot were to pass, a survey with all suggested mascot options from the initial survey would be sent out, along with the current rankings. In addition, there will be an option for anyone who has another suggestion. Everyone who submits an idea will be placed in a raffle for a prize (TBD). The top three will then be selected, likely by focus group or committee, and those three will receive a prize (TBD). These
top three options would then be sent to the broader school community through the new referendum process (see Referendum Bylaw Revision).

Staff Input

As part of the Mascot Ad Hoc Committee, a Staff Subcommittee was formed to solicit staff opinion and communicate information between the committee and staff members.

Process of Gathering Feedback

As a group of faculty and staff members joining this Council subcommittee, our main goal was to both solicit feedback from other staff, but also to educate them about the motion and Council discussions. To this end each of the members undertook the challenge of speaking to as many staff as they were able one on one to gather their feelings about the mascot change. Over the course of 6 weeks the nine members of the committee spoke with a large majority of the adults in our HHS community.
We then followed up with a full staff meeting open discussion, and recorded the notes, comments, and suggestions below in the feedback section. Overall the staff was in overwhelming support of this motion. There were no staff suggestions that we should not change the mascot.

Primary Sources

Obituary of Joan Williams Harriman Marauder Mascot Creator

Joan Williams Harriman Johnson Obituary

Joan Williams Harriman Johnson, 84, passed away on Jan. 13, 2018, following a period of declining health. She spent her last few days surrounded by loving family and friends at Bay Square Yarmouth Assisted Living in Yarmouth Maine.

Joan was born in Hanover, NH on Nov. 14, 1933, to Lucy Hale Williams and Dr. John W. Harriman, a landscape architect (Lucy) and an economics professor at The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. Joan left her own mark in Hanover when she designed the Hanover Marauder's logo during her junior year in high school. Sixty years later, the logo is still in use.

Joan's father was stationed overseas during WWII and she spent many vacations traveling by ship to Europe at a young age. She moved frequently in the US, and eventually settled back in Hanover. Joan was an avid horseback rider and skier, spending her early years at summer camps in NH and ME, and at their farm in Franconia NH where she often hosted a group of Hanover high friends, all of whom remain close today. On one occasion, while visiting the nearby Nash homestead in VT, she met Robert Frost. "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening" would be one of the last poems Joan would hear before she passed.

In 1951, Joan headed west to attend the University of Colorado in Boulder where she majored in English and met her first husband, John (Jack) Watson, of Denver. While there, she was a frequent weekender at Tulagi's on "The Hill" for dancing, and she became active in Greek life where she formed a life-long bond with her Delta Delta Delta sorority sisters.

Joan and Jack moved East, settling in Sudbury MA where they raised four children and she was an active volunteer in the community. The family enjoyed ski vacations up north and summers in Wellfleet on Cape Cod. When the kids grew older, they joined the Sudbury Ski Club and Buddy Werner Race League, and she contributed ski articles to the local paper in addition to being their biggest cheerleader. In 1973, Joan married James Johnson (Jim) and the family moved to Carlisle MA. There, she was active in the animal refuge league and old house restoration and preservation, cataloging artifacts she found during demolitions. Joan had a soft spot for animals and her home was never without its contingent of adopted cats, dogs, guinea pigs and the occasional chicken. Working at an environmental business, she would occasionally bring home an injured or abandoned animal to nurse back to health, the most memorable being a baby raccoon.

As empty-nesters, Joan and Jim took government positions in Washington, DC and relocated to Capitol Hill. Joan continued her interest in old home preservation and was active in old home tours. After several years, they transferred to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia where they made their home on "The Rock." During their years overseas they were fortunate to travel extensively, hosting and meeting their children and grandchildren in various locations around the world.

Joan and Jim retired to Cape Cod, eventually settling in Osterville. They were members of the Hyannis Yacht Club, enjoying trips with the 'power squadron' where they made many friends. Their favorite stories included traveling the intracoastal waterway with their cat Isha to and from their home in Naples and the Cape. Their children and grandchildren frequently accompanied them on trips to Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard and Maine, one of their favorite destinations.

One of Joan's last great adventures was in 2013 when she was 78 years young. She embarked on a weeklong excursion with the girls in the family- her three daughters and four granddaughters- travelling through two of America's famed National Parks, Yellowstone and the Tetons, in a '90s Westphalia.

Joan never forgot a birthday, anniversary or a celebration. Almost any event justified sending a card or gift. She will be remembered for her smiling eyes, her love of musicespecially

Glen Campbell and James Taylor- and fondness for animals, both of which kept her spirits up, especially in her waning days.

Joan is survived by her children, Cynthia Watson and husband Bob Gross of Yarmouth ME, Janice Watson Camp and partner David Wendel of Harwich MA, Barbara Watson of Bozeman MT, and John Watson of Hancock MA. She leaves seven grandchildren, Hilary Gross and husband John Barker, Jack and Matthew Gross, William, Lucie and Aly Camp, and Hadley Marshall. She leaves behind her cat, Lovey, and many friends from all chapters of her life. Joan was predeceased by her husband and her half-sister Clemewell Mary Young.

Mascot Name Election Results

Name Election Results

The New Mascot Selection and Implementation Committee

Summary

Of the 909 voters in this election, 711 cast ballots.

Bears is the winner after counting the ballots using San Francisco RCV.
Bears had 56% of the votes in the final round.

Detailed Results

Counting ballots using San Francisco RCV. There are 5 candidates competing for 1 seat. The number of ballots is 711 and there were 711 valid ballots and 0 empty ballots.

The bar charts below show the vote counts for each candidate in each round.

Yellow — Votes carried over from the previous round.
Green — Votes received in this round.
Red — Votes transferred away in this round.

A candidate's votes in a round is the sum of the yellow and green bars. Since the green and red bars represent votes being transferred, the sum of the green and red bars is the same.

The exhausted bar represents votes where the voter did not indicate a next preference and thus there were no candidates to transfer the vote to.

Valley News Articles

Values Subcommittee Report

Values Report

2020/2021

Prepared By The New Mascot Selection Committee & Implementation Committee

Subcommittee Charge:

The charge of this committee was to be responsible for assembling a list of values and rules to consider when judging mascot entries, to distribute to the community so that they have guidelines for submitting entries, and to distribute to the school before and during the referendum. The committee was also obligated to implement these guidelines in the school community by working with clubs and staff members [ongoing, as of May 2021].

Members of the subcommittee did the following:

Brainstormed potential values to consider when choosing a new mascot, within the committee
Spoke with members of the school community to learn what values they would like to see embodied by the new mascot
Reached out to local Upper Valley organizations and school clubs to ask for their input on deciding on a new mascot
- Local Upper Valley organizations: WISE, OPAL [Office of Pluralism and Leadership at Dartmouth], and Black Lives Matter chapters in New Hampshire
- School Clubs: Diversity Club and Feminism Club
Created a Google Form survey to solicit information to better determine what values to consider when choosing the new mascot
- Posted the survey on Schoology [May 12^th, 2021]
- Included the survey in the “Friday Update” sent out by the HHS Admin Office [May 7th, 2021]
- Posted the survey on the Hanover ListServ and Norwich ListServ [May 12^th, 2021]
- Survey responses were closed on May 16^th, 2021 at 7:00 pm
Relayed the findings of the Google Form survey to the Pre-Competition subcommittee, including potential mascot ideas brought forth by the respondents of the survey

What We Found:

Subcommittee members did not receive many responses from the organizations and clubs that they reached out to. However, in an email written by committee member Katie Werner (‘22), the HHS Feminism Club Co-President Emily Nadeau (‘22) suggested “avoid[ing] qualities that could isolate or limit certain students from feeling they can relate to the mascot and feel represented by it.” She also recommended “properly researching the history [and] selecting something with a positive or neutral past”.

In the survey shared with the community, the Values subcommittee solicited information and recommendations for values and potential mascots. Individuals were only allowed to vote once. By Sunday, May 16^th, 2021 at 7:00 pm, 278 responses were collected. Four questions were asked:

Multiple Choice Question: Are you a(n) alumni, community member, current HHS student, parent of HHS student(s), parent of RMS/MCS student(s), and/or school staff? (check all that apply)
Free Response Question: What three values do you think best represent Hanover High School, and you would like the mascot to reflect? (such as community, courage, inclusivity, perseverance, etc.)
Multiple Choice Question: Are you interested in the new mascot taking the form of an animal, a letter, a color, and/or a symbol in nature? (check all that apply)
Any other thoughts or comments?

From question 1 [Are you a(n) alumni, community member, current HHS student, parent of HHS student(s), parent of RMS/MCS student(s), and/or school staff?], the following data was collected.

Current HHS Student	146 respondents (52.5%)
School Staff	62 respondents (22.3%)
Community Member	62 respondents (22.3%)
Alumni	36 respondents (12.9%)
Parent of HHS Student(s)	35 respondents (12.6%)
Parent of RMS, MCS, and/or Ray School Student(s)	31 respondents (11.2%)

From question 2 [What three values do you think best represent Hanover High School, and you would like the mascot to reflect?], the following data was collected. The top 5 values that respondents thought best represented Hanover High School were community [86 votes], perseverance [65 votes], courage [62 votes], inclusivity [55 votes], and strength [44 votes].

A word cloud (shown below) was compiled, and included the top responses. Word sizes are varied by frequency [larger words were submitted more times].

From question 3 [Are you interested in the new mascot taking the form of an animal, a letter, a color, and/or a symbol in nature?], the following data was collected. Out of 278 responses, 247 responses were used for the pie chart below [the other 31 responses were unclear, inappropriate, and/or irrelevant to the question]. Out of 247 valid responses, 218 responses [53.9%] indicated a preference for an animal mascot. 112 responses [27.9%] indicated a preference for a mascot from nature, 46 responses [11.5%] indicated a preference for a letter as a mascot, and 27 responses [6.7%] indicated a preference for a color as a mascot. Respondents were able to select multiple responses.

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