Date: Fri 07-Mar-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: DOTTIE

Quick Words:

NHS-Nighthawk-logo-Chuongvan

Full Text:

New Nighthawk Logo Takes Flight

B Y D OROTHY E VANS

He's not exactly a screaming eagle, but this Newtown nighthawk silhouetted

against a full moon has all the necessary ferocity and pride for a school

mascot.

Certainly, in the eyes of the Newtown High School students, Jeff Chuongvan's

nighthawk logo was the one they wanted, even though they might not have known

that the all-state junior offensive lineman was its creator.

"A few of my friends knew, but most people didn't," Jeff said Monday during an

interview in the cafeteria.

A junior at Newtown High, Jeff was looking forward to starting lacrosse season

this week, and he could not stay long to talk. He might be lifting weights or

running later that afternoon, he said.

Jeff's logo design survived three separate rounds of voting during the

narrowing-down process.

At first there were 20 student-submitted logo designs, then five, then two,

and, then, last week, Jeff's logo was voted the winner.

But he had not actually intended to enter the contest, he said.

"I'd just been fooling around on the computer when I came up with this design.

My Dad liked it and sent it to Mr Manfredonia [Newtown High School principal],

and he asked me if I wanted to enter, so I said OK," Jeff said.

His father, Chan Chuongvan, is a retired IBM employee.

Jeff explained he'd been thinking of an arrow when he placed the bird's head

in the middle of the capital letter "N," and he placed the full moon in the

background behind the "N" to add a bit of drama.

"I wanted the look of a bird of prey," he said, admitting that a clip art

picture of an eagle against a shield had served as his inspiration.

He'd selected the font, Stanford Heavy Bold, for the italic lettering, he

said. Jeff has had some experience in art; he was enrolled in the school's

gifted art program until he had to give it up because football was taking so

much time.

Now, his winning logo will adorn the football helmets that he and the rest of

the Newtown team will wear during the fall season. It will also serve as the

approved school logo for T-shirts, letterheads and school publications for a

long time to come, according to Mr Manfredonia.

Nobody seems to care that the nighthawk is not really a hawk at all. Roger

Tory Peterson's Field Guide To The Birds states that the nighthawk belongs to

the family of birds that includes doves and meadowlarks, and it hunts at dusk,

catching insects in the air.

When the students voted last spring to adopt the nighthawk to replace the

Indian as their school mascot, they were thinking more about the way "Newtown

Nighthawks" sounded - more about the image those words evoked.

Jeff's logo design obviously fits that image perfectly, and that is what

matters.