After creating the sweatshirts that represent the town and school, combining fun colors with design, Old Saybrook High School art teachers Ms. Newton and Mrs. Menga have finished the first sale of the Shine Your Light sweatshirt.
Every couple of years there’s interest in sweatshirt designing. Whether that be from a student, a teacher, or a parent wanting to give a heartfelt sweatshirt to a loved one, there’s always someone looking to create something special for the community. A couple of years ago, in 2020, interest from student Man Tran sparked a whole new sweatshirt design, highlighting the high school and what it has to offer. This year, art teachers Menga and Newton jumped on the train and wanted to make the sweatshirts more inclusive to not only the high school, but to the whole town of Old Saybrook. Their design focuses specifically on the lighthouses here in town. Menga expressed the importance of the logo on the sweatshirt: “we thought the lighthouse and how kind everyone is to the individual student here was an important part for us,” including how the lighthouse symbolizes following your own light, and how Old Saybrook Public Schools provide a safe space for students to do that. Newton addressed the compass on the front, which instead of N, S, E, W, has O, S, P, S, which stands for Old Saybrook Public Schools. To Newton, this is significant because “our school supports students finding their own niche interests…the compass is a guide for that.” Newton created the design on the back of the sweatshirt, drawing it by hand. “I feel like I drew it from all the input I was getting from our collective group, Brooke [Garvey] being the yearbook editor and Michele [Sapoznokov] was our executive consultant. She had amazing ideas.” Not only did they take advice from students on the yearbook club, Newton says, “we showed it to so many people, so
many students.”
The input from outside sources clearly helped spark their creative thinking. Feedback, according to Menga, was “really sweet,” with comments such as, “you really hit the mark with these.” Garvey, the yearbook editor, shared that the team hopes to hold another sale featuring additional colors that were a bit of a risk to order without seeing the final design. These limited-edition sweatshirts have since become a favorite among students and staff. While the first sale stayed true to traditional OSHS colors, there has been strong interest and positive feedback for other color options as well, including green, coral, and ice. The team hopes to release another sale in the spring.
All of the sweatshirts are priced at $45, which, according to Garvey, is “a really good price for the quality.” But the price isn’t unintentional. The proceeds of the sweatshirt sale goes to the yearbook club, helping support the club and ensure the book goes to print. “Making it that price helps contribute to the yearbook club and supports our goal of making sure all seniors receive a yearbook. One of our main goals every year, but especially this year, is to help the senior class as much as we can,” Garvey says. While Garvey has reinvented some aspects of the yearbook this year, she aims to “not only honor Mr. Dana Maccio, the former yearbook advisor, but also Mr. Bourne, who passed away earlier this year.”
