A Grade 6 student from Westpark Middle School has won the Orange Shirt Day logo design contest hosted by Red Deer Public Schools and the Red Deer Native Friendship Society.
Madisyn Maciborsky’s design was recently selected as the winner among the 100-plus designs created and submitted by students within the division.
The theme of this year’s contest was Turtle Island, which is a name for Earth or North America used by some Indigenous peoples. That theme was depicted in Maciborsky’s design.
“We chose about a dozen semi-finalists and then through that we had a large number of staff with the Red Deer Native Friendship Society and we all got to vote for our favourite. This was the one that came out on top,” said Hayley Christen, a First Nations, Métis and Inuit Learning Services co-ordinator with Red Deer Public Schools.
Christen said plenty about the winning design stood out to her.
“We loved the depiction of the turtle representing Turtle Island,” she said.
“On it, you can see a couple of teepees, which to me represents caring for the people along with Mother Earth.”
The logo design will be printed on this year’s orange shirt, which will be sold at the Red Deer Native Friendship Society.
Orange Shirt Day is held on Sept. 30 and raises awareness about residential schools in Canada.
“We wear orange to remember the children who attended the schools and never made it home, and also to honour the survivors of the schools,” Christen explained.
“There was such a huge impact that was made by the abuse, the neglect and the whole assimilation policy that guiding what was done at the residential schools. Orange Shirt Day brings awareness to that, so all Canadians know what happened. We need to all know the truth before we can move forward with reconciliation.
Summer Bashir Biow, a Grade 7 student at Normandeau School, finished second and Olive Buchanan, a Grade 5 student at Ecole Mountview Elementary, finished third.
All three designs will be on display at the Waskasoo Seepee Traditional Powwow Youth Day Gathering on June 23-24 in Red Deer.
sean.mcintosh@reddeeradvocate.com
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