Swimming River Discoveries cites student logo designer

Red Bank Middle School Art Department Chairwoman Kathy Doherty and sixth-grader Maitte Avila, who holds her logo design. RED BANK — Swimming River Discoveries, a project of the Red Bank Borough Education Foundation (RBBEF), honored Red Bank Middle School sixthgrader Maitte Avila at a recent school-wide assembly for creating the drawing selected for the project's logo.

Maitte's drawing, a student standing on a dock petting a duck was created last spring in Kathy Doherty's fifth-grade art class as a unit on the art of creating a logo. All of the then fifthgraders discussed Swimming River Discoveries and its objectives of providing access to the ponds, stream, marshes and meadow, which are located on the Red Bank Primary School's 17-acre site, as educational opportunities and outdoor classrooms for both primary and middle school students. The fifth-graders then made drawings that they felt might serve as a logo for the Swimming River Discoveries.

Red Bank Councilman and Swimming River Discoveries Membership Chairman Ed Zipprich and fellow project member Kathleen Panepinto made the presentation of a gift of art supplies to Maitte, explaining that her drawing was chosen from among all the submissions because it represents the Swimming River Discoveries goal of developing an appreciation among the borough's students for the wonders of nature. The gentle feeling of Maitte's drawing also suggests that our attitude toward the natural world should be one of respect and nurture; that we must preserve our natural environment.

Panepinto emphasized that the selection of Maitte's drawing was a difficult one since most of the students expressed great enthusiasm through their representations of birds, frogs, turtles, fish, trees, flowers, waves, boats, people fishing and diving and suns sporting smiles and sunglasses. She thanked all the sixth-graders for providing a great selection.

Swimming River Discoveries has already made use of the new logo in its recent memb ership brochure, in its letterhead, and on a note card packet, which it is being sold to raise funds for the project. For further information about Swimming River Discoveries, go to www.rbbef.org.