HOLYOKE — After a groundbreaking event in March, Holyoke’s new middle school is set to open next fall for about 550 students in grades 6-8 and have come to decision with a name and mascot that residents of the city may already be familiar with William R. Peck School.
After months of public engagement and several community surveys to choose an identity for the new school, the School Committee and district leadership made the final determinations including the new school will retain the name William R. Peck School, the same name as the school that stood at the site of the new middle school for 50 years, before it was demolished almost a year ago to make way for the new one.
The school’s mascot will continue to be a phoenix, a mythical bird that symbolizes renewal, hope and transformation, as it was for the original Peck School from 2016 until it closed in 2023.
The school’s colors will be red and black — the same color scheme used by Holyoke STEM Academy’s STEM Beats music group, which will be moving to the new school when it opens in fall 2025.
The new 107,475-square-foot middle school will replace the poorly designed, energy-inefficient original William R. Peck School that was no longer able to meet the needs of a modern education.
The $85.5 million project was approved in June 2023 by the city and the Massachusetts School Building Authority. The new school has been in part of a larger citywide effort to strengthen learning opportunities and reimagine the middle school experience.
Superintendent Anthony Soto talked about the process and importance of finding a name and identity for the new building.
He said, “Choosing a new name, mascot and colors for the district’s first new school building in 35 years was an important part of the planning process. Our new school will be a fixture in our community for decades to come, and we wanted an identity for the building that reflects who we are and where we are going. Designing and building a new school was an important component of Holyoke’s efforts to strengthen learning opportunities and reimagine the middle school experience.”
Chief of Strategy and Turnaround Erin Linville and School Committee member Dr. Yadilette Rivera Colon led a community-driven process to select the new school’s name, mascot and colors.
A working group of 13 members including teachers, staff and parents, met twice, once to narrow down the choices from a write-in survey with more than 200 entries and a second time to analyze the final survey results.
More than 1,800 students, families, staff and community members participated in the final survey.
Linville said she was happy to see the large amount of community engagement with the process.
She said, “I am thankful that 80% of current sixth and seventh graders at Holyoke STEM and Metcalf — the students who will be at the new middle school next year — participated in the survey, and I am excited that their top choices of phoenix as the mascot and red and black as the colors were ultimately selected. This demonstrates the district’s continued equity commitment to seek out and incorporate the voices of those impacted.”
The working group made its recommendation for the school’s name to a subcommittee of the School Committee, as well as shared their recommendation for the colors and mascot with the district leadership team.
Superintendent Soto and the district’s leadership team approved their recommendation for mascot and school colors when they met on Dec. 9. Later that evening, the School Committee approved the school’s name.
Looking ahead, Holyoke Public Schools will soon invite students to submit logo designs for the new middle school.
The district will also work with the School Committee and school leaders to potentially name rooms within the school after other notable leaders who were recommended during the process.
