St. John School

The history of the St. John School logo by Mrs. Pat Newton, Former Principal.

The current school logo was created by St. John School parents Colleen Gregoire and Darren Moore, two professional artists. Kathy Duffer, former teacher of St. John School, and I helped with the vision of the design.

We all wanted the logo to represent four basic principles: faith, knowledge, service, and growth. Each block of the logo represents these words. The cross was an obvious design to symbolize our roots in the Catholic Church. The handprint is the “service” block. The “sun” and “leaf” blocks are united as seen by the sun’s ray and how the light nurtures the growing leaf below.

The sunray crosses over into the “leaf” block indicating the growth of our students as represented in the “leaf.” This logo was designed to be a vision picture of our school mission – growing children in faith. The logo is used on all printed materials and is a part of our school uniforms.

…Pat Newton, August, 2012

The story of the mascot and school colors by David Carttar, parent and Middle School Steering committee member.

I met with the fifth-graders and we talked about the historical meanings of color in Christian art and the Catholic Church. The students chose not only the colors they liked the best, but also the meanings, or values, that they most wanted to represent our school: Courage, Strength, Endurance, Freedom, Hope, Light, and Nature. The color combinations that won the most support were red and gold, with blue in a supporting role.

Regarding mascots, we discussed how these represented their institutions in combinations of history, values, and environment. The students researched each of these with regard to Saint John the Evangelist and the Saint John parish in Lawrence. After discussing the results of this research, the students voted on their favorite mascots, and the eagle received by far the most support.

The school colors are vermilion, gold, and chalcedony blue. Vermilion, an ancient variant of red, represents the Holy Spirit, which guides us in our faith, our studies, and our growth. Gold represents our students, the most precious asset of our school, and the light of knowledge. Blue represents many things: heaven, the Virgin Mary, and service to others; chalcedony, a “waxy-blue” gemstone, is found in the part of Asia Minor where Saint John the Evangelist spent the last years of his life as part of the early Church.

The school mascot is the eagle, which is the traditional symbol of Saint John the Evangelist, going back at least 1,500 years. It comes from a time when the Church used pictures to teach the faithful, and different symbols helped distinguish figures in the Bible from each other. It represents Saint John’s insight into the divine nature of Christ: as eagles were thought to be able to look into the light of the sun without being blinded, John could look at the glory of God in the same way. On a local note, bald eagles are also annual visitors to Lawrence.

The school’s eagle design is scaled and proportioned to the existing “Faith-Knowledge-Service-Growth” logo, and is intended to coexist with it. Rays of light, representing both knowledge and inspiration, spread out behind the eagle’s head. The eagle holds two objects: a rosary, representing our Catholic faith and tradition; and a scroll, representing both the Gospel of John and our scholarly aspirations.

…David Carttar, April, 2011

The “Come Learn With Us” school logo was designed and created by local artist and friend of the school, Mrs. Rosemary Murphy, in the early 1980s. The logo was retired in 1999, and the new “Faith, Knowledge, Service, and Growth” school logo was adopted.