Pelham Memorial High School has adopted its first logo, replacing the one used by the school district.

The new design came after PMHS Principal Mark Berkowitz sat in on a sociology class in which teacher Gregory Kopstein taught a lesson on what makes people pay close attention to a product or idea for an extended period of time—called the stickiness factor.

At the time, there were many variations of the Pelham Pelican on different badges for sports teams and clubs, but not a single logo for PMHS.

“We have a district-wide logo.” said Berkowitz. “There are logos for elementary schools. There’s even a logo for the middle school.”

Wanting to create a sticky brand that went along with the historic nature of PMHS and its achievements, Berkowitz asked for logo ideas from students interested in graphic design.

Sophia Greco was one of three students who submitted a design.

Greco’s logo includes symbolic elements representing the clock tower with the front of the school, a pelican, the year the school was opened and the school’s vision statement, “Excellence. Inspired by tradition. Empowered by community.”

Berkowitz and Greco went back and forth on design elements and wording. This process allowed them to produce a few different designs with similar ideas that could be used in the future.

“It is common, not uncommon, it is actually part of the practice for a company to say to a designer, here’s what we’re thinking, to have the designer come up with a range of options (and) to have the company kind of talk among itself,” said Berkowitz.

“It was like real-world experience having to work with a client, even though he is not a client,” said Greco. “But it gave you real-world experience into being a graphic designer which was an amazing experience to go through.”

Greco has been a part of the yearbook class for the past couple of years and is a student of graphic design teacher Jane Wals. After having her design selected, Greco said her confidence in her creations skyrocketed, and the experience has opened doors for her to work with companies.

Berkowitz and the rest of the school’s staff are looking forward to wearing apparel with the logo, signing off emails with it and seeing it appear in various high school locations.

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