Henry administration, staff and students presented the Henry High name change process to the Minneapolis School Board meeting on November 14. Liza Anderson Schmid the school Principal was present as well as the staff that worked on the name change. Former counselor Alex Leonard, former teacher Arielle Rocca, Public Relations Coordinator Marcus Zackery, and community partner Brittany Pinales, student representatives and Seniors Jeremi Niyonkuru and Davontae White-Sledge were present as well.
Alex Leonard spoke to the board about the history of the name change; Brittany Pinales spoke on the youth voice aspect of the process; Arielle Rocca spoke about the research students did with coming up with a process; and Marcus Zackery spoke about the importance of the name change and how it reflects our school community. Students Jeremi Niyonkuru and Davontae White-Sledge spoke about the voting process and the data that was collected.
Once the data was collected the two recommended names were Victory and Camden. Interim Superintendent Rochelle Cox recommended that the school’s name should change to Camden. At the following school board meeting on December 12, the board decided the name would change to Camden starting the next school year.