DUVAL COUNTY — It is the first year students will sport the name Westside Wolverines instead of the N.B. Forest Rebels.
The name change was voted on by students at the school with more than 50 percent choosing to change the name after a long-standing community uproar about the founder Nathan Bedford Forrest having ties to the KKK.
The name change also stirred a little controversy due to its hefty price tag, $242,000. The majority of that went to new sports uniforms and the rest went to logos, lettering and mascot changes around the school. That money came out of the district's operations fund.
Action News talked to Miss Westside Senior Mikayla Stanfield, who said she is happy about the name change.
"I don't feel like when I am walking down the street and people ask me what school I go to, and I say ‘Forrest,’ and they are looking at me like do you not know."
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