Students urged to submit Vandal game day T-shirt design
For Vandals, traditions begin during orientation week.
One such tradition, Vandal Walk, provides students with lunch, speeches, entertainment and a free Vandal Game Day T-shirt, which is a different design every year. Now, students have the chance to design next fall’s Vandal Game Day T-shirt.
Genie Tran | Argonaut
Lauren Hamilton, student alumni program coordinator, talks about the goal and rules of the T-shirt contest this year.
Submissions for the Student Alumni Relations Board’s (SArb) Vandal Game Day T-shirt Contest are due Friday at 5 p.m. The contest is open to the public, but Lauren Hamilton, student alumni program coordinator, said SArb hopes both students and alumni submit designs.
“It allows either our students or alumni to be able to kind of feel invested in Vandal pride,” Hamilton said. “Whether that’s through athletics, you know, these are kind of geared toward athletic games, but I think that it really allows our students to have a hand in that.”
Cassandra Michaud, SArb spokeswoman, said she sees the contest as a chance for students to be creative and design something they like, whether they have artistic abilities or not.
T-shirt designs are limited to three colors and must include the words, “Vandal Game Day” and “2015-16.” Otherwise, Michaud said, the design is up to the entrant’s imagination.
“Me personally, I’m looking for something that, of course is gender-neutral and really catches the eye,” Michaud said. “Because you’re limited to three colors, something a little more edgy would be good so that they’re selling and everybody’s wearing them when they’re going out to support our athletic teams, our music department, anything like that.”
Hamilton said a creative services team might adjust entries after they are submitted to ensure they line up with trademark and licensing issues, as well as to ensure the colors and design of the shirt line up with university branding.
“We get a lot of submissions, and some of them are really great and some of them don’t really fit with what we’re looking for, but I think we just shoot for quantity of admissions, and if we get a lot then there are usually some great things that we can pick and choose from,” Hamilton said.
Michaud said she has enjoyed seeing the different T-shirts through the years and looking at how they reflect different trends from various eras at the University of Idaho. She said individuals can submit multiple entries if they would like, and she hopes to have as many entries as possible.
“We could definitely use more participation,” Michaud said. “Getting more choices out there, getting more people involved is our No. 1 priority. Being the Student and Alumni Relations board, we want to be able to connect all the students to not just their present time here at the university, but once they move on to graduation.”
Hamilton said while the T-shirt would be the official Vandal Game Day attire, it would also add another Vandal gear option for students, alumni, parents and community members to buy at the VandalStore in the fall.
“We want, ultimately our goal is to have these shirts everywhere and we want them all over campus and we want them to be recognizable as what you wear to game days,” Hamilton said. “I think having a wide appealing design is good. That’s why the first one worked so well, but it’s fun to have new one every year and it’s fun to see what happens.”
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More info
Designs are due by 5 p.m. Friday. They can be submitted electronically to [email protected], by mail to PO Box 443232, Moscow ID 83844-3232 or in person to the Office of Alumni Relations.
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Daphne Jackson can be reached at [email protected]