Waubonsie Valley High School in Aurora unveils new crest aimed at better representing Potawatomi culture
Waubonsie Valley High School officials have unveiled a new crest aimed at better representing the Native American heritage of the area at a school named for a former Potawatomi leader.
The new crest is the next step in a series of changes to imagery at the Aurora school in an effort to better reflect the Potawatomi tribe that lived in the region previously. Last year, the school unveiled a 46- by 14-foot mural that features portraits of Chief Waubonsie based on one of two known drawings of him.
Waubonsie Valley Principal Jason Stipp said a lot of the imagery previously used in the high school was “Hollywood-esque” and westernized and was not reflective of the true Potawatomi culture.
The crest for the school being replaced featured tomahawks and a Native American wearing a headdress which Potawatomi members typically did not wear, he said.
“I’d be naive to say that having a character of a Native American as a crest isn’t troublesome nowadays or viewed as inappropriate by a lot of society’s standards,” Stipp said. “We wanted to have conversations around that.”
The change in the crest comes as the school prepares for its 50th anniversary on Sept. 1, 2025. Stipp said officials want to have new imagery in place so they are prepared during any renovation work at the school that may involve replacing the former crest, which can still be seen for the time being in the school’s tiles.
Crests that are easy to replace throughout the school, like on signs or on the school’s marquee outside, will be changed this summer, he said.
The new crest features a drawing of the sun breaking in honor of the name “Wa-BaN,” meaning “day break,” school officials said. It also features prairie grass, symbolic of the Midwest and incorporated in the naming of the Indian Prairie School District, and flames referring to the Potawatomi Native Tribe members being known as “keepers of the fire.”
Feathers are also seen to symbolize the “trust, honor, strength, wisdom, power and freedom in Native customs,” school officials said.
The school worked with the Trickster Native American Cultural Center in Schaumburg, which has previously worked with the Chicago Blackhawks and West Aurora High School, to help design the new crest.
Students also were given a presentation on Illinois Native American history and land acknowledgments by Ohio State American Indian Studies Associate Professor John Low, who is also a member of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi.
“We tried to still be true to our history but engage in a better way of doing it,” Stipp said. “We are trying to make a leap into the future while having a conversation about awareness and our current crest was not something that represented Waubonsie or our school.”
