Wait…We’re the Gremlins?
According to Elyce Arons, Chair of Grace Church School’s Board of Trustees, the school mascot, the Gremlin, will go under review to be changed in the upcoming year. Ms. Arons has been the Chair of the Board of Trustees for four years and will step down at the end of this school year. Ever since her eldest daughter, Katy, entered GCS, Ms. Arons has played a role in the school’s community through volunteering as well as being a PA representative for her daughters, three of whom currently attend the school.
As a part of the 7 year Long Range Plan set in 2015, the Board of Trustees is reviewing the mascot as an attempt to alter the branding of the school to include the newer high school campus in the school’s identity and promote “vertical integration.” According to Ms. Arons, the reason why the Board approached the issue in the first place was due to the fact that two separate representations had begun to form, respective to each campus: the crest for the elementary school and the quatrefoil for the high school. After a bit of discussion, questions arose about the Gremlin: Where did it come from? How far back does it go? Is it really part of GCS tradition?
After consulting alumni and other members of the GCS community, the board came to the conclusion that the Gremlin hadn’t been around for too long, and most alumni barely remembered the mascot at all. In addition, the gremlin is defined as a “mischief maker.” The Board of Trustees decided that it might be better to find a more aspirational icon that would be easier for a school to rally behind; however, the process has proven to be more difficult than one might think.
According to Ms. Arons, a mascot for GCS must fit a list of criteria formed by the Board itself, the administration and the rest of the Grace Church School community. Some examples of these are that it must be “gender neutral” and “feel like Grace Church School.” “We went round and round and round about it,” said Ms. Arons, “One of the things that was on the top of the list for many people was the Griffin.”
However, acco
rding to Ms. Arons, there is a long way to go before anything is finalized. The next thing to do is “conduct focus groups with different constituencies of the community, including current students” to test out the favorability of different mascot suggestions, or even the idea of changing the mascot at all. “Nothing is set in stone yet;” said Ms. Arons, “We’re really in a fact finding stage right now.” One of the most important groups in the process are alumni. The board is worried that many may be extremely attached to the gremlin, and changing it might distance them from the community. Current students and the administration will also play an important role in the process.
As one of her concluding responses, Ms. Arons added the the mascot “has to mean something to the school. It has to have reason for being.” But until an icon that fits this title is found, the Gremlin will stay on the corner of our jerseys.
Clarification re the issue of the Gremlin:
The Board of Trustees has recently reviewed and accepted a report from a Branding Committee that was charged with rationalizing and updating the school’s branding. The accepted report does not deal with the Gremlin. A question about the Gremlin was inserted into a discussion at a board meeting, but there has been no consultation with alumni or other members of the school community. Moreover the board has not come to any conclusion nor has it decided that it would be better to find a more aspirational icon. It did agree to consider the issue next year.