The Results Are In: Howell High School’s New Mascot Unveiled

HOWELL, NJ – Howell High School’s Rebel mascot has officially received a new look. After a heated debate last month over the Confederacy-inspired team name and mascot, the new face of Howell High School will draw inspiration from American Revolutionary War rebels.

A contest to redesign the longtime symbol was announced in late June. The contest resulted in four finalists with the winner, 2012 graduate Kylie Burst, announced in July.

The Rebel name, which was adapted when the school was founded in the 1960’s as Southern Freehold Regional High School, will remain, according to the district website.

The new design replaces the former cartoon blue-and-gray soldier for a mysterious figure with a shadow cast on its face. Burst says the shadow was intentional for the mascot to remain genderless, according to NJ 101.5. The alumna, who went on to attend Roger Williams College in Rhode Island, says that she can see both sides of the argument that provoked the change.

Early June saw the advent of an online petition to replace the symbol, which as of date has received over 3,700 signatures. A counter-petition to keep the mascot and its namesake emerged soon after, prompting nearly 2,000 individuals to sign.

“It has come to our attention that the Howell High School (NJ) mascot, which is based off a confederate soldier's likeness, does not represent the values of the people it serves,” reads the petition for the mascot’s removal. “Instead, it undermines the struggles of BIPOC and the blatant prejudice it stands to represent. The depiction of a confederate "rebel" serving as a high school mascot could not be more demeaning or out-of-touch.”

The counter-petition claims that changing the mascot would be “an attempt to erase history and nobody wants that.”

In recent years, the school district has slowly phased out the mascot by removing the soldier logo from its athletic fields in favor of a letter ‘H’. The image has also been removed from new uniforms.

"Throughout the last several years, the district has taken action to remove the former image of this mascot,” district officials said in a June statement. "We are continuing to take the necessary steps to remove any remaining public depictions of that former image.”