By Kayla Lemens, Current Staff
After years of confusion as to which logo is truly the West Bend East High School logo, an official logo has been launched.
East administrators released a redesign of the schools’ current logo and mascot on May 15. This was done as the previous logo was not very effective in creating a strong sense of culture throughout the high school, as it seemed that the school’s branding did not have one distinct look.
“When I looked around the East athletic office, there were 10 or 11 different variations of the same logo,” said East athletic director Kevin Bryant. “It was time to make an official one.”
The process of redesigning the logo began last fall. Despite many failed attempts to create the perfect logo, one was eventually found.
“We selected a committee of East students to help us select the right logo,” Bryant said.
The logo was developed through VIP Branding, a design company that specializes in the recreation of school logos. They hand-drew new designs based on the past logos. Eventually, the committee settled on the current design.
The logo change had two parts. First, VIP Branding changed the way the “WBE” lettering appears. Then the company completely redesigned the mascot, the sun.
Students agree that it was time to update the school logo, but have mixed opinions about the outcome.
“I really like the logo because it better represents our mascot, Helios, which is an important part of our school,” East sophomore Maren McDonnell said.
East sophomore Tyler Rumpel says that he likes the new lettering more than the new sun design.
“I don’t like (the sun). It looks angry,” Rumpel said.
Some students say the new logo looks evil, even comparing it to the devil.
“When I first saw (the logo), it took a while to even figure out what it is,” East senior Aidan Schmidt said. “Is it supposed to be a sun? Then why does it have a devil face on it? Is it supposed to be Heleus? Then why does it have a lion’s mane? It’s just super confusing to me.”
Jeff Rondorf, the current East football coach and former Suns athletic director, said he likes the new logo.
“I like it a lot because, if you go back to the original Suns logo, it was time to give it an update,” Rondorf said. “I feel we gave the logo updates all the way through this process. It’s certainly unique and stands out by itself.”
Although East has a new logo, many sports uniforms will not be undergoing a major change as many of them simply say “East” and do not have the sun mascot on them. As for the East football team, Rondorf is considering adding the logo to the helmets.
Rondorf said this is an opportunity for all of the East athletic teams to be branded together.
“We really haven’t gone through a process like this since establishing our original logo which was introduced in the 1970s,” he said. “We have had different logos throughout the years, but it was never official like this one.”
Rondorf gave Bryant credit for a job well done.
“Kevin did a great job organizing this by getting a good group of people together to give their input and make changes,” Rondorf said. “It was very well done and very well organized.”