It's typically in English class that, when reading Shakespeare, high school students ponder the meaning of a name.

A handful of Seneca Valley students, however, turned that thinking on its head, asking their school board: “Wherefore art thou Raiders?”

In a roughly 30-minute presentation Monday before the Seneca Valley School Board that director Fred Peterson called “compelling,” six junior and senior students made the case for retiring the “Raider” name and mascot from use in the district.

Claire McCafferty, one of the juniors, described the history of the Raider mascot, tracing it back to the merger of Evans City and Zelienople high schools in 1961.

At that time, Claire said, the students settled on the name Seneca Valley and the Raider mascot to represent the history of the school's geographic location. She added the students received support from Seneca Nation Chief Hanging Feather, who was present at the school's groundbreaking ceremony in 1963.

But culture has changed since the 1960s, the students said. Many Native Americans no longer support the use of likeness or tribe names — and especially pejorative terms historically used to describe them — to represent sport teams.

Avani Salunkhe, a senior, referenced statements from the National Congress of American Indians to that effect. Senior Benaifer Sepai noted Ricky L. Armstrong, president of the Seneca Nation of Indians, said the term “Raider” was “not an honor at all; it is an insult, and you are using discriminatory terminology.”

Claire said the students in the 1960s felt a sense of duty to adequately honor those after whom the district and its mascot were named, something she believes is missing from today's use of the name, “Raider.”

“Today we seek to bring that duty back that our fellow Seneca Valley students once held extremely important,” she said. “We continue to accept our duty to the Seneca people by conducting that research and by talking to the Seneca people so that we can honor them in a way that they see best fit.”

Zach Donaldson, a senior, pointed to specific instances of the mascot's use, such as a mural for Seneca Valley wrestling depicting a muscular American Indian with war paint on his face, in what appears to be the act of screaming, his mouth full of irregularly shaped teeth.

“At first glance we may not see anything immediately offensive, but it characterizes a lot of the typical, cartoonish stereotypes we see about Native Americans: the war paints, the headdress,” he said.

He added the district is already transitioning from the Seneca warrior to “Seneca Valley” or “SV” in block letters as a primary logo, and has painted over existing murals in the school, so retiring the mascot or logo would not create a hefty workload.

Peterson praised the students' presentation.

“I think your argument was both well researched and compelling, (and the) presentation was articulate and clear,” he said. “I don't think there's anyone on the board that would take exception to your position.”

The student presentation begins about 37 minutes into the board meeting.<iframe width="100%" height="450" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OeqLSLi3zHc" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>