The Nashoba Regional High School’s mascot has been the Chieftain for almost 60 years. Now, a group within the school community is calling for a new one.

Rachel Tepper, who graduated in 2008, says, "We can't be using these types of stereotypes and caricatures and undermining a minority class we are saying we're allies with."​

Tepper started a petition for a new mascot. She says the Chieftain contributed to a harmful school culture.

She says, "We were dressing up in the headdress, we were wearing war paint on our faces."

While more than 2,000 people have signed her petition, a group called 'Save the Chieftains' is looking to keep things as they are.

Fellow Nashoba graduate Ryan Aldrich says, "There are many other cultures across the world that have used chieftains to describe their highest power of people."

Aldrich graduated three years before Tepper and says the Chieftain represents honor and respect. He says the physical, offensive mascot was eliminated while he was there to an "N" with a spear through it.

He says, "We stopped with the mascot and headdress because it wasn't a proper depiction of what it was like for Native Americans here at the time."

A group from Algonquin Regional High School is also calling for change. They want to eliminate the Tomahawk from their sport's teams names as well as the name Algonquin. At Nashoba, Tepper wants progress, while Aldrich says this has already been done.

"If this mascot ostracizes even one student, then the district is doing a bad job," Tepper says. 

Aldrich says, "If the Chieftains change, then at what point is Nashoba now offensive, or the Nashua River or Mohawk Trail. Look at how much history and Native American culture is in this state."

Aldrich’s petition has more than 1,000 signatures. He says the issue is not about race. 

The Nashoba Regional School District is aware of the discussion. They say they will join the conversation at their next meeting on July 1.​