Union students on Monday, March 7, 2022, voted decisively in favor of the proposed Redhawks logo, with 72 percent of students in grades 4-12 responding positively to the design put forth as a finalist. The Board of Education followed suit Monday night, unanimously approving the student-created design, declaring it the official logo of the District’s new Redhawks mascot.
The vote concludes a 14-month process following the November 9, 2020 decision to move away from the district’s previous mascot that had been in place for more than 75 years. One year later, on November 8, 2021, the Board voted unanimously to select Redhawks as the official mascot for Union Public Schools.
“I am really proud of the work that has been done to take us in this new direction as the Union Redhawks,” said Superintendent Dr. Kirt Hartzler. “This stellar design – by one of our own students – will enable us to soar into the future with a mascot of which we can all be proud. I think it does a great job of capturing Union’s spirit of fierceness while aspiring to excellence in all that we do. GO REDHAWKS!”
On Monday, it was also revealed that the winning design was created by High School junior Caiden Morales, a Union “lifer” who has been at the district since pre-kindergarten at Peters Elementary School. Largely a self-taught artist, Morales was a student last semester in Jennifer Fisher’s Introduction to Marketing class and is a member of UHype, the district’s marketing club for students. He is also an avid student-athlete in cross-country and previously in soccer.
“What got me thinking about the design was really my dad,” said Morales. “He encouraged me to do some designs on my own and submit them because he wanted the school to have a cool mascot logo. As far as my art goes, I’ve drawn since I was a kid. I only got an iPad about two years ago or so, but I’ve always done pencil and paper design. I was the kid who always draws all over their assignments at school. The iPad has opened a lot of unique opportunities for me. It allows me to paint digitally. I draw pictures that I think are cool and I also enjoy animation, being able to bring things to life.”
It was Morales’ animation work that originally captured the district’s attention, according to Chris Payne, Union’s Chief Communications Officer. “While there were a lot of design concepts in the works, we had not yet settled on anything. When Caiden sent me an animation he had created, it totally blew me away. His concept captured the fierceness we were looking for in a new mascot, and as we began to show it to Union insiders, it quickly became apparent that everyone liked it. Caiden was on to something, and we worked closely with him to develop it into the final version of the mascot that was approved. Despite being a first-time designer, his work is really astonishing.”
Morales is somewhat surprised at his good fortune. “I wasn’t planning on being part of this process. I just wanted to draw something cool, design a little logo, and give it to the district. I didn’t expect Union to really use it. I just thought they would draw inspiration from it and make something else from it. But the district went with it and now I’m here.”
Morales believes graphic design may be something he wants to pursue as a career. “I don’t know how the saying goes, but it’s [something] like, ‘If you like what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.’ I like what I do, so I do see how this could be a career for me.
“It feels great. It’s a big accomplishment in my life that I never really expected. To think it will be everywhere. It will be on t-shirts. It might even be put on a school building. To think I might be 50 or 40 someday and I will look back and my logo will still be here on a school building. Regardless of what happens, I want it to be a true representation of Union, one that people will really be proud of.”
Prior to the official vote by the students, the finalist logo had gotten a favorable response from more than 1,500 Union supporters who participated in a Thought Exchange. Seventy-five percent of respondents said they “loved” or “liked” the logo that was offered up for consideration. More than 1,000 thoughts were shared, and 15,426 ratings were provided.
Based on the feedback, some fine minor adjustments were made to the logo, including making Union larger and the silver color was lightened.
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