By Sue Kiesewetter
Enquirer contributor

LIBERTY TWP. - Lakota's fourth junior school, set to open next August, has a name: Lakota Plains.

It is the same name approved by a committee but rejected by students in 1996 when the board of education was choosing names for Lakota East and West high schools.

"It came off the top of my head," said Steven Armstrong, 12, who sat on a committee that reviewed more than 500 name submissions for the school.

"It keeps with the theme" of geography and American Indian names, he said. "The Lakota Indians lived on the plains in some states. I thought it would contrast" with Lakota Ridge Junior School.

The committee recommended the name following a vote this month by students in grades 5-7, who would be attending the school in the next two years. Students chose from among Lakota Plains, Patriot, Justice, Unity, Allegiance or Lakota Valor.

The top three vote-getters were Plains (more than 300), followed by Patriot and Valor, said Bruce Lewis, who will become principal when the school opens next August.

Board members said they would officially vote on the name next month, but agreed they would follow the committee's recommendation.

"I was real surprised to see it (Plains) on the list again," said board member Sandy Wheatley, who was on the board when names were chosen for Lakota East and West. "I bet those kids didn't know it was a name before. It was their own research and creativity that brought the name back."

The school is being constructed on the former VanGorden Farm at the northwest corner of LeSourdsville-West Chester and Princeton roads. An elementary school, already named VanGorden, is also being constructed on the site and will open next summer. That school will have an eagle mascot and its colors will be red, white and blue, said Superintendent Kathleen Klink.

Lakota Plains colors, like the other three junior schools, will be some combination of red, white and black with the Thunderbird as its mascot.

"Both of the names represent the rich culture and heritage out here," Mrs. Wheatley said.

About two-thirds of Ridge's seventh-graders will go to Plains Junior School when it opens. Others will come from Heritage, Cherokee and Shawnee elementary schools and Hopewell Junior School.