New school logo introduced as part of renovations

Courtesy photo St. Olaf Catholic School

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St. Olaf Catholic School old logo

BOUNTIFUL — During Catholic Schools Week, Jan. 27-31, St. Olaf Catholic School will be introducing their new school logo.

“We have had this beautiful shield with a crest and a very traditional Catholic logo, very formal, that speaks of who we are,” said Simon McFall, St. Olaf principal.

“Our original logo is classic and more formal, representing Christ and the cross at the center of all that we do,” added Katie Bakker, the school’s director of communications.

Although the elements of the logo reflected the Catholic faith and the school’s mission, the school community tended to perceive it as old, rather than new and fresh, McFall said.

That perception led to the idea of a redesign.

“We started a conversation about how to create a logo that could be energizing and exciting and reflect who we are and what we are trying to do and the work that we do here at the school, so we started designing and talking,” McFall said.

The school’s mascot is the Vikings because St. Olaf was the first Scandinavian saint.

“So in the conversation, it emerged that Vikings sometimes are tough because sometimes they appear angry or they are going to war, and they are mainly male. ... But as the conversation evolved, we start questioning what about the Vikings would be something inclusive that brings the community together,” McFall said.

As a school, St. Olaf wants to send a message that inspires faith, and brings people together in a place where all have a role as part of a community, he said. With this in mind, a group that included McFall, Bakker and Heather Bird, the school’s director of social media, came with the idea of a Viking ship as the main element of the new logo.

“The ship represents the educational journey we are all on together, each with a job and a part to play, working alongside each other to reach our destination,” Bakker said.

Faith is what brings people together at St. Olaf, and everyone in the community has a role in this, McFall said. He added that, if a person is going to be part of the Church or of the school, or both, “you have to have more than just coming and going, you have to join, you have to be a part [of it]. So in our new logo around a Viking ship we placed a cross to be assertive, to inspire the image of that prayer that says, ‘The sea is so great and my boat is so small.’”

On a Viking ship, everyone has a responsibility, he said. “Everyone has to pitch in, everyone has to be a part of what we are trying to do, because the seas are going to be rough and because we are going to face challenges, and the only way through is as a community. The only way through is if we all do our part as stewards of our faith and of our school.”

The new logo already has been incorporated at the school in a new mural titled “Change, Growth and Transformation.”

The mural was painted by Juan Diego Catholic High School seniors as part of a service project.

“For us it is kind of seeing the full circle of Catholic education … to have the students come back to see what happens when you are a senior,” Bakker said. “It was really a neat experience to be able to talk to them and see what they created.”