Student’s design one of 6 finalists for new county flag
A class assignment two years ago turned into a great opportunity for Shepard High School senior Charlye Hunt.
When she was a sophomore during the pandemic, Hunt took part in a graphics design class and one assignment was to design a new Cook County flag.
Her art teacher, Jen Glaz, was so impressed with Hunt’s work she entered it in a contest Cook County organized as it plans on unveiling a new flag ahead of the 2031 bicentennial of its founding.
Well, the pandemic being the pandemic, this contest was slowed and close to 300 students from high schools across the county had to wait until the 23 semifinalists were named last year.
Hunt was one of them.
“I definitely forgot I entered,” she said. “I was so surprised when I found out I was in the semifinals.”
Now she and her flag design titled Strides of Cook County are in the finals.
Just six flag designs are still in the hunt and Hunt is crossing her fingers hers will be the flag flying around the county in the near future.
“It would be awesome to see my flag represent Cook County,” Hunt said.
Glaz is even more excited. She couldn’t use the word “amazing” enough when talking about Hunt and this contest.
“Charlye has never stopped amazing us in her interests and passion for whatever it is that she does,” the teacher said. “To see that she would reach this level of amazingness where I could just look up on a website or look in Daley Plaza and suddenly see this flag that I know that one of my students created, would just be so amazing.” The new flag will be around for a while. “As we approach Cook County’s bicentennial, we look forward to presenting a flag that will represent the county for the next 200 years,” Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said in a statement.
The next step comes April 6, when Hunt and five other students go before the Cook County Board of Commissioners to talk about their creations.
Hunt has a few symbols and design elements involved in her work.
“There is a compass that is supposed to point to each district,” Hunt said. “The middle is a triangle, which is supposed to represent Chicago. The blue is the lake, and the green is the land and forest preserve.”
Glaz hopes a winner is determined shortly after the meeting with the Board of Commissioners.
According to a new flag for cook county. com, students were asked to create a flag with inclusive elements, the rich diversity of it residents, the beauty of the county’s landscape, the innovations of its institutions and pride of its history.
The current flag was designed in 1961 and is one of many old-time flags that is known in the vexillology world as a “seal on a bedsheet.”
The original contest timeline had this all wrapped up by the end of 2021.
After the winning flag is picked, it will go into production and flown at the Daley Plaza and county buildings, along with a run of 3x5 flags, small flags, flag pins and uniform patches.
There will eventually be a ceremony with a flag raising at Daley Plaza and the existing flags will be replaced outside county facilities.
Glaz said that Hunt has earned “frequent flyer miles” for all of the art classes and activities she has been involved in at the Palos Heights school.
Hunt said that she likes drawing people and animals and the Pinterest app has become her best friend.
Whether she wins this flag contest or not, it has already benefited her.
She said hopes to become a graphic designer and has been accepted to the University of Illinois at Chicago to help hone her craft. She said that she used her status as a finalist for the flag contest on her resume.