The Board of Education for the Cowichan Valley School District has unveiled a new logo.
The logo resulted from the board’s new strategic plan, ‘Beyond Education’. Throughout the development of the plan, the board heard from community members, staff, and students about what they believed the district represented.
Once ‘Beyond Education’ was finalized, the board realized the old logo did not represent the feedback from the community.
The board enlisted local artist Stuart Pagaduan, a member of Cowichan Tribes, and Hul’q’umi’num Language and Culture Advisor in the district, to lead the process and the creation of the new logo. Pagaduan took the feedback from the community from the strategic plan and interpreted it through his art.
The new logo features the colours of the rising sun which represent the new day, and a time to give thanks to all we have. Inside the sun are the spaal’ (raven) and wuxus (frog) that both represent transformation. A collective journey is represented in the canoe and four paddlers.
The canoe is a central part of Coast Salish culture and here it denotes the community coming together on the same journey.
“The board is honoured to have such a beautiful and powerful representation of our district,” noted Candace Spilsbury, chair of the Board of Education. “Stuart’s powerful art truly depicts our collective journey.”
The new logo will be rolled out over the next several months.
“As part of this new branding, the district is retiring all uses of the ‘SD79’ moniker and will only be known as the Cowichan Valley School District,” added Director of Communications Mike Russell.