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The board of trustees for the Port Arthur Independent School District is looking for name suggestions for the newly upgraded track at Abraham Lincoln Middle School.

Residents are allowed to make one suggestion and give an explanation for their selection.

Those interested can follow the link on the PAISD Facebook page.

Participants can suggest only one name. Board members will only consider the first name on forms with multiple suggestions.

Forms can be filled out from now until Dec. 17 and the board will review and consider all names during the January meeting. The board will then make the selection and the winner will be announced at an undetermined date.

School board member Taylor Getwood said the track is open to the public and added that he likes that the board is seeking community input for the name.

“The track had never been named,” he said. “Of course, we want to work with our community and that is one of the most important things we are doing as a board. We want it to be some of the track stars of Port Arthur, or someone that has done something significant enough to be the face and name of the track and our community.”

While the criteria suggests the track can be named after anyone who has positively impacted the area, Getwood said he would like to see it named after a former track athlete.

“There are so many names that it could be,” he said. “It will most definitely be a process. As rich as the area is in history and all the historians we have, we are going to receive a plethora of names that will be deserving. I would like to see someone who had some significance in the track arena.”

Getwood said he does have one particular person in mind as a suggestion.

“I would like to see Inika McPherson,” he said. “That is who it would be for me. She would be a great name. Dealing with track, we should go for someone in that field. She is an Olympian, especially with everything she has been through the past year in dealing with the Olympics and fighting for her spot.”

Jamaal Charles, Kary Vincent Jr. and Corey Dauphine are also figures who had recent impact on the track for Port Arthur.

“It is going to be hard process for us to go through all of these wonderful names,” Getwood said. “At the end of the day, we are going to work on this as a group and we will get it done.”