EASLEY — J.C. Brice Middle School will have a mascot and color scheme waiting for it when it opens in 2014.

Brice Middle’s athletic teams will take the field as the “Riptide” and will sport green and black on their uniforms.

The Riptide name continues the nautical tradition for Easley mascots, joining the Easley High School Green Wave and the Gettys Middle School Breakers.

“I think our school committee did a great job leading this task for the new school and blending the great traditions in Easley with a new school. One thing that was very evident with our students, staff and community was the importance of the ‘Easley’ green representing both middle schools in Easley,” said Gettys Middle School principal Mike Cory.
Cory oversaw the mascot and color committee, composed of Gettys Middle School staff with input from students, parents and community members. The student population for Brice Middle will come from a split of Gettys Middle at the start of the 2014-2015 school year. Brice Middle will be housed in the renovated former Easley High School building on Pendleton Street.

“Middle school students’ greatest strengths are their uniqueness and willingness to go against the flow just like a riptide,” Cory said. “A riptide by definition is a tide or strong channel of water that opposes other tides and changes the makeup of the sea. The future students of JC Brice Middle School can be that powerful force of positive change in their school and within our community.”

The school district is still in the process of designing a logo to visualize the new mascot.