By Katiana Yazdani Bosdet ’22, Malone Dougherty ’22, and Ms. Rivka Bent
In early December, the Architects of Change (AOC) team took advantage of Wellness Wednesday and came together as a club to screen print new club sweatshirts. Abiding by all COVID-19 safety protocols, the AOC team worked together in the OLP art studio where we were instructed in a step-by-step workshop on the art of screen printing. The hands-on process was instructed by Ms. Esther Bent who holds a degree in Art from Westmont College and has experience in teaching through Teach for America. Though we came together without a clue of the intricacies connected to our sloganed sweatshirt, we left with a new skill in hand, a product of our own making and a beautiful time of, as Father Greg Boyle puts it, “kinship.” Through the many thick layers of fabric ink, applying a bit of muscle in the pull, tape, and trial-and-error, our AOC white sweatshirts were complete with an updated look while maintaining the integrity of our club slogan to, “challenge what is, imagine what can be, and move humanity forward.”
The purpose of this activity was not only a fun team building design project, the driving force for this event began months prior when as a club we tackled tough conversations around our CSJ charism of “Unifying Love” and inclusivity and what those mean in order to move humanity forward. We looked at our original logo and began to ask questions such as, “can any girl see herself in the depiction?” and “does our current logo design eliminate certain racial traits from its scope?” This process of evaluation took several weeks as our club dove into conversation and truly looked at a logo we loved from the various perspectives of aesthetic possibility. As a group, we examined God’s love for humanity and the relationship between that love and our charge as AOC members to ensure others feel included in conversation, even visually. Discussion was tough at first because the original sweatshirt art was not offensive. It was only after considering the every girl factor that we found an opportunity for growth to ensure any girl could see herself in the logo and thus see herself as an Architect of Change.
The team reviewed several design inspirations and landed on replacing straight hair with nondescript flowers, while keeping the aspect of femininity intact. The new logo features the eye, nose, and mouth of a woman, while the motto of Architects of Change embodies the face. With club input and Ms. Esther Bent’s graphic design assistance, the new AOC club logo emerged and gives us the opportunity to embrace the diversity present for us girls. For us, the refreshed logo embodies our commitment to our faith and our own club motto, “challenge what is, imagine what can be and move humanity forward.” We must start the process first and by doing so, we ourselves are the changemakers from within, learning and growing together in our effort to move the world forward.
We are proud of the design and what it represents to be a member of Architects of Change club.
