There’s a longstanding American ambivalence about how, exactly, we should feel about great wealth. Should it be celebrated (i.e. John D. Rockefeller, Bill Gates)? Or is it somewhat unseemly, and maybe even kind of embarrassing (i.e. Montgomery Burns, Thurston Howell III)?

Since recent years have brought us the Occupy movement, Bernie Sanders' presidential candidacy, and the election of Donald Trump, it's fair to say there's no national resolution in sight. But at Lenox Memorial Middle & High School in Western Massachusetts — where the sports teams are nicknamed the Millionaires — the students seem to be taking a side.  

"The mascot being the Millionaires kind of turns a lot of our students away from being proud of the school," said Julie Monteleone, a rising sophomore and student councilor. 

Recently, Monteleone helped conduct a poll that asked sixth- through 12th-graders whether they'd rather keep the Millionaires moniker or scrap it. The result? Two-thirds said they'd like to ditch "Millionaires" for another nickname to be determined.

Monteleone believes it would be an enlightened move. 

"In today’s society [it's] become outdated, and is kind of offensive," she argued. "It’s an undeniable fact that not everyone has equal opportunity to become a millionaire."

"The term ... comes with connotations of elitism and greed and arrogance," she added. "I'm not trying to say all millionaires, and people of the millionaire class, are those things. But it brings along this idea."

Her fellow student councilor Jimmy Jay Chassi backs a change, too. But the rising junior says he's more concerned with the response the nickname elicits elsewhere.

"I have had people mention it to me before — 'Oh, you’re the Millionaires? Are you guys all rich?' Stuff like that," Chassi said.

All of which raises a question: Why are Lenox’s teams called the Millionaires in the first place?

Lenox Library director Amy Lafave has researched the history, and says the backstory is somewhat complex. 

"I think I’ve gotten it back to the 1940s," Lafave said. "It didn’t start with the school. It started with a newspaper trying to come up with a cute nickname to call these players on the court."

“Millionaires” fit the bill because, a few decades earlier, Lenox had been a go-to getaway for the Gilded Age smart set. They built huge, ostentatious mansions, some of which are still standing today. And their conspicuous consumption helped drive the local economy.

"To build these estates, and maintain these estates, took an awful lot of help," said Lafave. "Masons from Italy. Gardeners from Ireland."

For many longtime residents, that history remains a source of intense pride. And that, in turn, explains the resistance the current name-change push has elicited from some quarters.

"To say that they’re bullied — I don’t know," said lifelong resident Francie Sheehan Sorrentino, referring to claims that "Millionaires" elicits mockery from out-of-towners. "I’m kind of feeling a little bullied right now, because I’m proud to be a Millionaire."

Sheehan Sorrentino works three jobs: She's in food service at the middle and high school, also serves as the school's detention supervisor, and has a third gig at Loeb's, the local market. And she's still struggling to understand how “Millionaires” became dirty word.

"These people supported our schools and the whole community," Sorrentino said. "Look at [this town] — it’s beautiful, it’s idyllic."  

Before the Millionaires nickname gets jettisoned, Sorrentino says, she wants the entire community to have a chance to weigh in. 

"I feel that it should be a town’s vote, I really do," she said.

But she added, "Is it necessarily fair for the students, because they’re not at voting age? Perhaps we could do a combination of both, and see where we end up."

There have, Sorrentino notes, been several other votes taken at the middle and high school on whether to retain the Millionaires moniker. But this is the first time a majority of students have backed a change. 

What happens now is unclear, but the Lenox School Committee is slated to discuss how to proceed at a meeting next month. 

Whatever the outcome, one thing seems clear: Even in Lenox, "Millionaire" doesn't quite have the caché that it used to.