A new totem pole is set to be raised at the high school/middle school campus during a home basketball weekend in January.

An initial report in the Sentinel that the pole would be unveiled on Saturday, Dec. 6, was incorrect.

The totem pole is an original piece, commissioned by the school district for the campus commons in the outdoor courtyard between the middle school and high school.

Carver Mike Hoyt said the project began when the district reached out to him.

“They came to me and asked if I would do it, and I told them if they supply the log we’ll carve what they want,” Hoyt said in October.

The pole will stand about seven feet tall, less than half the height of the larger poles in Totem Park. Its design blends school pride with longstanding cultural tradition.

A wolf will represent the Wrangell Wolves and older clan histories, an eagle will rest above it, and a human figure will stand at the base.

“The wolf is for the school, but also a link to the historical moiety from here,” Hoyt explained in an October interview, noting that local clan structures long included raven and wolf. “Locally, the raven and wolf clans pre-date the raven and eagle. So the wolf on the pole connects the school to that history.”

Hoyt said the eagle at the top reflects both Indigenous heritage and the elementary school, while the human figure at the bottom represents the broader Wrangell community.

“The human at the bottom is the link to the human history of Wrangell and all of the heritage and history here,” he said.