Petrin's design chosen for festival logo

Kera Petrin had just been told she was "in trouble," by her Medical Lake High School teacher Don Parr when she came to her visual communication design class. The next moment Parr pulled up a Powerpoint slide that read "Congratulations Kera."

"I was shocked," Petrin said.

Petrin was one of many people who submitted a logo design for the 40th Annual Pioneer Days festival in Elk, Wash., June 17-18. Parr's Powerpoint was his way of telling Petrin that her design was selected out of the many that were submitted. Petrin's logo will be used for all things relating to the festival, including clothing, signs and posters.

Parr said he learned about the design contest through The Elk Sentinel newspaper, which sent out a request for logo designs.

"Sometimes I'll try to make assignments for students that are more than just for a lesson," Parr said. "In this case it was an open design contest that was open to anybody, including college students and adults. It blew me away that a high school student could register and win. It's pretty cool. Kera is a serious student."

For her design, Petrin said she wanted to incorporate the letters of the town's name into the body of the logo and design an image of an elk around them.

"It's similar to how Eastern Washington University's logo uses letters to make part of the eagle, and how the Washington State University's logo makes up a cougar," Petrin said.

Petrin added that the difficult part of creating her design was "trying to find the right font to fit with the letters and the elk shape."

Petrin said she took her first digital design class her freshman year and enjoyed it. During her senior year, she needed to take some credits and decided to take Parr's visual communications design class.

"I've always been interested in design," she said. "It allows you to be creative on the computer, have fun and be flexible in your designs. It's also less messy."

Petrin added that she mostly likes to edit and add effects to photographs. She recently touched up her and her boyfriend's senior class photos. She also designed the post for this year's art show.

Besides being honored in her class, Petrin was recognized at the final senior class assembly.

"It's also listed on the school district's reader board," Parr said. "Everybody is so proud of her, including myself."

Petrin said she will go to school for nursing but she'll primarily continue design as a hobby. She added that she could put her design skills to use in nursing and create charts, diagrams and presentations.

Al Stover can be reached at [email protected].

 

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