That young child was Hendrix.

“So I sat where you are today. I ate from the same cafeteria. I went to school in the same classroom, really enjoyed my time and Plantation provided an excellent education for me,” he continued, noting that it prepared him for life after elementary school.

“But today, we are here to move forward into the next century, because of other things, because of other situations, historical situations, we’re moving forward with a new name, Prosperity Elementary School.”

The name change that was celebrated Friday was first discussed in 2019, said Principal Renee Whitney, who’s been in charge of the campus for four years, but was a teacher there for 15 years before that.

“... The movement for it was mid-COVID,” she said, noting that initially, the pandemic forced the priority to be on how to best educate students through the unprecedented challenges and making sure they were equipped to learn remotely. “This was something that was on the table that they felt was valuable enough, important enough that, despite COVID, we're going to move forward."

The school board ultimately authorized the name change for the school, as well as requesting a street name change form the city, with a May 2021 vote. The move came about two weeks after nearby South High abandoned the Rebel as a mascot, according to previous reporting in The Californian. With the rebranding, the elementary school’s mascot also changed from the Patriots to the Eagles.

A committee was formed to solicit names from the public, consciously avoiding the use of a person's name, at the board’s direction, and looking for an idea. The choices then were whittled in a selection process from 40 to 25 to just two, which were then presented to the board: Liberty or Prosperity.

The latter was chosen for its uniqueness, according to school officials, who noted that while there is a local Liberty High School, their research indicated there wasn’t a public school named Prosperity anywhere on the West Coast.

“I love the new change,” Whitney said. “I think it truly represents what we want for our kids, and that's lifelong prosperity.” Of course, it doesn’t hurt that the new name also alliterates with the school’s educational goal, PALS, or to create Positive, Accountable Leaders who are Safe, she added.

Hendrix, who said he was mixed race but adopted by a Black family who raised him as such, used nothing but superlatives to describe his experience in elementary school, and said that he was largely unaware of the legacy of the name while he studied there.

The school’s current ASB president, however, fifth-grader Guadalupe Carranco Medina, understood how the old name was offensive.

After enjoying a morning of meeting with local elected officials and their representatives — she said the highlight of her day was shaking hands with Bakersfield Mayor Karen Goh — Guadalupe said she was happy about the positive message the new name gives students.

“I feel like it’s a great opportunity, that it’s good to change, because ... the name was racist, and (Prosperity) is a new one that can encourage our students to be good,” she said.

“There’s a lot of people here from other cultures, like, I’m Mexican, I came here when I was 7,” she added, “there’s Indian people, Black, white … so it’s diversity.”