New name looms for school formerly known as Henry

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The long road to changing the name of Patrick Henry High School in Minneapolis is almost at an end. Back in 2018, the alumni of Henry led quite a battle to stop any school name change. That conflict was resolved when the Minneapolis school board unanimously decided in August 2022 to rename the school.

During the last nine months, the student-led name change committee at Henry, #WhatsMyName, has sponsored discussions and community votes to narrow down the new name of the school. To its credit, the committee has included as many community members, alumni and students as possible in the process. The diversity of possible new names generated has been amazing.

For example, in the first vote participants were given a choice of three names out of over 40 possible choices. The possible names included Freedom High School; Clyde Bellecourt High School; General Vang Pao High School; Cozelle Breedlove High School, Never Give Up on Yourself High School; and Rosa Parks High School.

According to the #WhatsMyName website, the possible list of new school names now has been narrowed to just five.

The five remaining name choices are: Camden High School; H.E.N.R.Y. High School (an acronym for Highly Educated Noteworthy Resilient Youth); Minneapolis Northwest High School; Prince High School or Prince Rogers Nelson High School; and Victory High School. The mascot list is down to eight with the choices being Dragons, Eagles, Falcons, Lions, Panthers, Patriots, Wolves and the Prince symbol/guitar.

The final round of voting on these five possible school names and eight possible mascots ends May 23 at the #WhatsMyName website.

I have interacted in person and online with alumni, community members and current students of Patrick Henry High School. I've discovered that most alumni are still upset with the name change, but when pushed tend to support renaming the school Camden or H.E.N.R.Y. Community members tend to support Prince, Northwest or Camden.

The current students, however, overwhelmingly support renaming the school after Prince. In contrast to both the alumni and community members, the level of excitement among the students for renaming the school was high. Also, unlike the other groups, the students are very much behind one new name: Prince Rogers Nelson High School.

Last fall, I wrote on these pages that the best course of action was to compromise on the name change by retaining Henry's Patriots nickname and not naming the school for any individual. During the last six months my position has evolved after interacting with so many of the stakeholders.

I still believe the Patriots nickname should be retained as a bridge to the past, connecting thousands of alumni to their school. However, I now believe that either Camden Community High School or Prince Rogers Nelson High School would be equally good choices. The incredible positive energy I have felt from students about honoring Prince makes clear that it would empower students by giving them voice.

The students share their love of Prince with Minnesota's Legislature and governor. On May 9, Gov. Tim Walz signed a bill into law (using purple ink) to call a stretch of Hwy. 5 from Eden Prairie to Chanhassen as Prince Rogers Nelson Memorial Highway. The legislation requires the highway signs to be in purple.

Many students favor the "Love Symbol" for the mascot of a possible Prince High School. In 1993, Prince announced that he had changed his name to this symbol. Soon, people started calling him "the artist formerly known as Prince" and eventually just "the Artist."

But selecting the "Love Symbol" as the new school mascot would be a mistake. Considering that a corporation now owns a half stake in the Prince estate, they might well want a cut on every jersey, cup, pennant, pencil or other piece of merchandise sold by the school. It would be much better to retain the Patriot nickname.

I hope online voters at #WhatsMyName will decide the Patriot nickname. I also hope they select either Camden Community High School or Prince Rogers Nelson High School.

Dave Berger, of Maple Grove, is a retired sociology professor, a 1981 graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Minneapolis, and a freelance writer and author.