Santa Fe Public Schools Bilingualism & Biliteracy Seal

The Santa Fe Public School District’s Language and Culture Department was seeking a district seal to acknowledge and honor those students who successfully complete the Bilingualism/Biliteracy Seal/Award Requirements. The Design Corps of Santa Fe mentored high school students in the design and development of a seal using their professional expertise. Members of the Design Corps, Renee Innis and Bram Meehan, developed programming and met with students to help guide them through a design and production process, and delivered a final bilingual seal design to be used on multiple applications.

Planning for the Bilingual Seal Art Project started in January 2022,  in collaboration with school Bilingual Seal Coordinators,  professional graphic designers, and high school student artists. In February through March, professional graphic designers (Meehan and Innis) worked with student artists (CHS, SFHS, ECO) to create a creative brief and mentor them through the process.  Presented designs to Bilingual Seal Art Panel happen in April to 5 members - Mr. Randy Grillo, Ms. Cristina Gonzales, Ms. Jaime Holladay, Board of Education Secretary Sascha Anderson and Ms. Raquel Plaza. Later that month, the final design was selected which was by Koi (Daniela Luna Huereca)!  Lastly, Koi finalized the design selected with the graphic designer to use for production purposes. 

All student artists received a prize and certificate for the completion of their art designs.

Student Artistic Statement:

I joined this project as a Bilingual person myself, I felt obligated as an artist to make my two worlds known. My parents migrated here from Mexico before meeting each other in the states. My mother now has her citizenship and is my biggest inspiration to be resilient in a world where many people might not be so accepting of me because of my background and roots, thanks to her I have never been ashamed of who I am. When thinking of a concept for this seal I went through many stages and was never fully confident on one thing until I landed on a braid. Braids can be found in many cultures throughout history they can be worn for important occasions, casual day to day, and as protective hairstyles. I wanted to make sure both what the bilingual seal represents and the significance of many cultures could take part in helping me create this design. Within the three braid strands that represent social-cultural competence, high achievement, bilingualism, and biliteracy I added ribbons that represent what it takes to receive the bilingualism seal which is strength, loyalty, and positivity. - Koi