Obituary: Viebrock

SPENCERTOWN – The Spencertown Volunteer Fire Company (SFC) has announced that their Recruiting and Retention Committee (RRC) is working with Chatham High School’s Media Arts Class to develop a mascot. The collaboration represents a landmark for the RRC’s community outreach program. Until now, their efforts have centered on online communications and community presence.

“A good mascot represents the ideals of an organization and helps establish a sense of ownership and pride in it. It is critical to our mission that our residents feel that ownership and pride in their fire company and we can’t think of a better way to develop it than by including the dreams and creativity of our community’s future leaders in crafting this symbol of our identity,” said Adam Reznikoff, the head of the RRC in the a press release.

The goal of the partnerships is to develop a suitable mascot while providing real world experience to students interested in pursuing a career in design. Regardless of the results, the research, thought, and exploration involved in the creative process deepen the understanding and connection between SFC and CHS’s students, their parents and teachers; all key ingredients in bringing the fire service back to its rightful place at the center of the community from the faceless utility it has become.

The SFC looks forward to seeing the new mascot riding along with them on the doors of their trucks and welcoming members and guests at the firehouse door as well as on merchandise available to their supporters.

This past summer, SFC launched a line of t-shirts featuring original artwork by local artist Marie Fischer. The design includes a sketch of the original Spencertown firehouse and firetruck, and the shirts sold well at SFC’s event booth at this year’s community events. This coming season the new mascot will be featured on a new line of t-shirts and future classes will be able to use it in an annual design contest.

“SFC’s project is special because it gives the students more creative freedom and expands their real-world experience to understand that every job and every client’s needs will differ,” said Christina Scott, the head of CHS’s Media Arts Department.

The class has already submitted their first drafts and received feedback from the RRC and is currently working on their revised versions. The winning design will be announced in January and shirts will be available at the SFC booth next season as well as on SFC’s website: www.spencefire.org.