PHS students creates logo for City of Perryville

Ali Koenig, a junior at Perryville High School, has designed a logo for the City of Perryville's board appreciation event.

PHS students designs logo for City of Perryville

A Perryville High School student has designed a logo that the City of Perryville will use for years to come.

Ali Koenig, a senior at PHS who studies graphic design at the Perryville Area Career and Technology Center, has created a tree logo for the city's boards. It appears on an invitation for the annual board appreciation dinner and will also grace the event program.

Ali is the daughter of Crystal Koenig and Doug and Cydney Koenig, all of Perryville. She is a second-year graphic design student in Bill Ernst's program. She plans to earn a degree in graphic design after graduating from PHS.

"We had the idea that all of the different committees and boards are like branches of a tree," said City Administrator Brent Buerck. "Each is important independently but each also is vital to the bigger picture.

"I'd just been on a tour at the Career Center, so when we couldn't take our idea from concept to reality, I thought maybe Bill Ernst and his graphic design students could help us out.

"And they did! Ali took our idea and ran with it. She did a wonderful job and we couldn't be more pleased with our partnership."

Ernst said that his students enjoy such challenges and the opportunity to work on "real world" projects.

"The city had a vision and a tight timeline for their project, and Ali was able to take that vision, create the design and deliver it within the available time frame," he said. "This is what we're training our students for, and we're glad we were able to help."

Mayor Debbie Gahan said she loves the design.

"I was floored when I opened the envelope and saw the creativity and beauty of the design," she said. "My first question when I went to city hall was 'Who designed it?' It's just fabulous."

Buerck said he has just one regret about the design -- that the career center and Koenig didn't take enough credit.

"The credit is blended into the design," he said. "I wish it was bigger so everyone would know right away that our career center created this wonderful logo for us!"

Ali said she's happy that the city will use her design.

"It's pretty cool that I was able to help out," she said. "It was a fun project to work on."

For more information about Perryville Area Career and Technology Center, visit the Perry County School District 32 Website at www.perryville.k12.mo.us.