Winning Montrose High student talks about logo he designed

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KJCT) - One school in Western Colorado is in the process of changing their mascot. The Montrose High School Indians are currently transitioning to the Red Hawks.

Montrose High School held a contest for students to design the new mascot logo for the Red Hawks. Junior Andrew Jutten won the contest back in March.

“I think one of the reasons I ended up winning is cuz I tried to put a lot of meaning into it instead of a normal bird logo,” said Montrose High School Junior Andrew Jutten. “I decided to go all out with it and try and win. Because I really love graphic design and I thought it would be really cool to have my logo used at the school even after I’m gone.”

Andrew Jutten is in the yearbook class at Montrose High School and has always been interested in graphic design. So he knew he wanted to enter the contest, make the design unique, and give it his all.

“I decided that I was gonna do a forward facing bird because 99% of bird logos online and all the ones I saw other people making were a bird face or more of a typical mascot logo,” said Jutten. “So I decided to make something that would be more unique. Once I had the bird done I noticed the triangles that are the wings also looked like they could be mountains. Since we’re in Colorado I thought it would be a good idea to make the wings also mountains so it has a double meaning. Then, after that I noticed the entire logo resembled an ‘M’ which stands for Montrose. So I decided to edit it to make it look more like an ‘M.’ Then it had a triple meaning.”

The process has been in motion for a few months. By June 1 the old logo will either be changed over or covered up. The new logos will all be in place when students come back in the fall.

“Change can be hard,” said Montrose County Schools Public Information Officer Matt Jenkins. “Anytime you have an effort that is as sweeping as changing a high school mascot. That can take alot of input and participation. Whats been really cool through this process is seeing the ownership the kids have taken. Seeing some of their creative energy put to work. The student artists that provided their own take on what the red hawk would be is really cool to see them get involved. So its been a community effort that our kids have really been involved with.”

Andrew went on to say he’s in the perfect position as a Junior because he’ll still be around next year to see his logo around the school when he’s a Senior.

“Almost nobody can say they designed their school’s logo,” said Jutten. “So that’s something awesome, like a story I’ll be able to tell my whole life. It’s really cool knowing next year I’ll be here to get to see everything. Then after I go to college it’ll be cool knowing the school’s here using my logo.”

The new logo will go on merchandise, athletic equipment, around the school’s walls, around the gyms and on the exteriors of buildings. The iconic Lloyd McMillan gym has a memorial statue outside of it which will also be replaced with a new similar statue with Andrew’s logo design engraved in it.

Andrew said he plans on going to college for graphic design and pursuing it as a career.

Copyright 2022 KJCT. All rights reserved.