Charlie Albus wanted to keep it simple in designing a student logo at Mary Queen of Peace School in Webster Groves.
Mission accomplished.
The eighth-grader created the winning logo in a design contest solely for students. Albus’ logo incorporated an eagle — the school’s sports mascot — inside a badge, with the letters “M,” “Q” and “P” on top of it.
Albus described the winning logo as “a really cool example of what our school is all about. It’s not too complicated. It describes our school really well.”
He called the logo contest “a great idea.” About 50 students entered designs.
“You don’t just go to (a graphics company) and have them make a logo for you,” he said. “You leave it up to the students because they’ll be proud of wearing this logo on their T-shirts.”
MQP mom Trish Bordeaux will silk-screen the logo onto students’ preferred shirts on the first school day in Catholic Schools Week, Monday, Jan. 30. The process is mobile; she’ll set up shop at the school, with ink and hair dryers at the ready, and print the shirts, one homeroom at a time. Then, the students will be allowed to wear them on Spirit Day every Friday.
In addition to the creativity of graphic design, students will learn the process of silk-screening with a hint of how to operate a small business. All in a day’s work for Catholic schools, with their well-rounded education
Bordeaux was the genesis of the idea. She runs a family business, SmallDogPrints, which cranks out silk-screened or other printed materials for area Catholic schools and organizations among other community concerns.
“She offered at the beginning of the year to do it if we ever had an idea and wanted to make T-shirts with some kind of silk-screen design,” principal Amy Schroff said. “We’ve been thinking all year about what it would be.”
The “ah ha” moment came in December as the school planned for the annual week-long celebration of Catholic schools.
“It just popped into our mind: ‘Hey, Mrs. Bordeaux offered to do silk-screening for us,'” Schroff said. “We just decided the students would help us find a new logo, not the official school logo — I call it a casual logo — but a logo just for Spirit Day.”
The design contest ran for about a week in mid-January, with a snow day for an ice storm plopped into the middle. Bordeaux and a small team of volunteers judged the contest.
Albus was part of the crew broadcasting the school’s morning show when his logo was announced as the winner.
“I did a little fistbump inside,” he said.
