LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Atherton High School will be the first Jefferson County Public School to change their mascot, as part of their racial equity plan.
"Things change, meanings and words change,” Shannon Fauver said. "Being a kid is hard enough. We don't want to make it harder for them. And if it makes any of them uncomfortable, there is no reason to keep it the same."
Shannon Fauver went to high school at Atherton and wore her label as a rebel loud and proud.
"We were rebels because we are activists. One of my sisters and I were both rebels and were both civil rights attorneys. So that’s the kind of rebel I always associated with," Fauver said.
It wasn't until recently, she learned there were other meanings and associations to the term.
"And I did not know that in the '70s the mascot was actually the rebel mascot with the rebel flag from the south," Fauver said.
As a parent of a student, and a member of the site based decision making group, when she found out her alma mater would be changing their mascot, she wasn't surprised. It's all part of a larger effort to promote racial equality within the district.
"School is supposed to be where you feel safe and with everything else going on in the world, that's the one place you don't want them to have to worry about anything that makes them uncomfortable," Fauver said. "And if changing the mascot to anything else makes them more comfortable with school, that's what we want to do."
Of 150 schools within JCPS, they are the first to make this change, but Shannon says they have always paved the way.
"Atherton was the first high school that I know of in the state of Kentucky that had a trans inclusive bathroom policy," Fauver said. "Atherton has always been an activists’ school."
Shannon said she doesn't know what the next mascot will be for the kids here at Atherton but she said they are all about activism so she's hoping it will embody just that.