Plains Schools to create new logo

In school sports, the school’s integrity, emotion, attitude and appearance can widely be attributed to, and represented by, their mascot.

In many cases the fearlessness of a viking, the strength of a bull, or the high soaring standards of an eagle can tell the story of a school’s ambitions and attitude. The school symbol represents more than just a thing to put onto jerseys but is so much more to the facet of being part of a team.

As with many small school systems, Plains has gone through many renditions of its mascot, the horse, over the years. Numerous of which have been “borrowed” from other places for temporary use.

The horse represents strength and speed, teamwork and most importantly freedom. Freedom to choose one’s individual path and future. Plains has always prided itself in the impact it has made on its students, giving them the strength and ability to use this freedom to see all of their options.

This is why so many students return to the little town of Plains to teach, because of the great impact the school system has made on them. The horse, not only the namesake for the area, it’s also the famous mascot of Plains High school, located in historically named Wildhorse Plains. This originates from the fact that Native Americans would winter their horses in the unusually temperate area.

All this being said, the one thing that has never quite had the universal standing is the artistic representation of that idea, represented by the horse. Now, it could be said that that idea is in its nature fluid, however the Plains School System has begun a mission to unite that idea into one common theme, i.e. by creating a new logo.

Historically the Paladin Horse has been the traditional representation used by the school. Its use dates back nearly to the 1940s. This “Paladin” is often misidentified as the chess piece knight, when in actuality it is far more than that, and so there is some resistance to the change.

There is no plan by the school to stop using the old symbol however, and they in fact they still wish to embrace it. The school’s mission is to create a “brand” that is all-recognized and representing to the Plains Schools. This symbol is meant to be strong and aggressive and to, as Thom Chisholm explained: “drive fear into the hearts of our opponents.” Specifically, he refers to sports.

To do this Thom elected the new Technical Director for the Plains Schools, Drayton Klammer, along with Drayton’s out of town friend, Austin Rademacher. The two lifelong comrades grew up together and both took several classes in school regarding digital design. Both are also from Minnesota and are new to Montana, however Drayton has been visiting the state for many years. Drayton started working for Plains Schools July 1, 2019. His friend now lives in Bozeman and is planning on moving to the Plains area next spring.

The new horse has now currently gone through nearly 10 completely different renditions and every aspect of its appearance is being looked at and decoded to make sure that the final product meets the lofty goals of the school. Everything from the colors to the way the horse is facing are being considered and currently the design is taking a modern “flat” style as Drayton explained.

They have also looked at three dimensional styles and others, however, would like it to look new, fresh and modern. The new horse is not yet finalized and still under experimentation and development, but the overall idea remains the same: to end up with a new horse that represents the spirit of Plains.