By Alex Sorce and Alex Cummins –
Penn Manor students were selected to help design and make final touches for the new Open Campus PA online schooling logo.
Nine students – three from Hempfield, three from Township, and three from Penn Manor got together last month and spent a full day at Hempfield High school in Landisville, PA to brainstorm and start designing the new logo. Juniors, Hannah Breidenbaugh and Trent Shaeffer, along with the help of freshman Olivia Stekervetz, made up the trio that represented Penn Manor on the first day.
The logo will be used to mark the three districts’ venture into a hybrid schooling that will launch this fall. It will allow some students from the districts to take classes offered in another district and online. It is the first such arrangement to occur in Pennsylvania.
The three Penn Manor students who worked on the logo design were chosen by Teri Hay, a Penn Manor art teacher.
All of the students who went to Hempfield for the day came up with ideas for designs. One kid from Hempfield had a design that was chosen in the end. Then we had to fix it and tweak it a bit yesterday, according to Shaeffer.
After the exhausting day of work at Hempfield High school, the nine students finally came up with a draft of the final product.
“I was stuck in the same room for six hours, but it was worth the time and it felt good to get picked to help out,” said Shaeffer.
About a month after the initial design was brought to life, four students, which included Breidenbaugh and Shaeffer, met up and tweaked the initial product to create final options of the logo.
Now there are four final options that are very similar besides the small shadows and outlines creating more detail in some aspects of the design. There is a choice between three of the very similar options for the website and a very simple option that could possibly end up on t-shirts.
The students weren’t completely on their own while coming up with initial designs. The nine artists had some influence from a guest speaker, Carol Aubitz, who works with businesses with whatever needs they may have.
Aubitz has experience in various marketing and advertising positions for private companies whose products were primarily sold in the U.S., but who also had international markets.
The designs have been run by each school district’s advisers before deciding on the final drafts, said Penn Manor Principal Phil Gale.