WOODS CROSS -- Being 17 years old, Andres Lancheros is not old enough to vote.
Yet, the Woods Cross High School senior, who has every intention of registering as an "unaffiliated voter" upon turning 18 in May, is already into politics as the creative genius behind the design of the Utah GOP's first party flag.
"It just came to me," Lancheros said of his winning design, one of 47 entries submitted to the five-member Davis GOP Education Committee that selected the winning entry.
The design, with the flag to be unveiled at the Davis County Republican Party Convention on April 13 at Woods Cross High, depicts a standing brown bison against a bright-red backdrop. The bison bears the Davis County GOP logo on its side.
"It's the first Republican Party flag," said Kris Kimball, Davis County GOP chairwoman.
Kimball said she liked Lancheros' design because it is easy to read and reflects well on Davis County.
"It can't be too busy," she said.
Having students create a flag for the party is one way of reaching out to them.
"It was a way to incorporate them, the young people, into the party process," she said.
Lancheros said he got the idea after visiting the Davis County Memorial Courthouse in Farmington in December, where the Davis County Commission presented him with a "buffalo coin" for participating in Utah Boy's State, a summer program for students that offers the study of American government.
The day after receiving the coin, Lancheros said, the Woods Cross High School art class received the flag-design assignment from their commercial art teacher, Shon Feller.
"My feeling was the buffalo was something significant in the county," said Lancheros, who, based on the competition of his classmates, was surprised his entry was the top one selected.
Lancheros said his real interest is to study finance. He said he just uses art as a hobby, a way to relax.
The flag-design assignment, given to the 60 Woods Cross High art students enrolled in his art classes, Feller said, is his way of giving students "real life opportunities" to work with clients.
Prior to the students submitting a design, Feller said, to give them an idea of what the flag should reflect, the class talked about the Republican Party.
Feller said, of the departing seniors enrolled in his art classes, on average, two of them will go on to study art after high school.
For his winning entry, Lancheros said, he received a $50 iTunes gift card from Davis GOP officials, and he anticipates receiving an A grade for the class.
"It turned out to be a really good class," Lancheros said with a smile.
Students receiving honorable mention for their entries and a certificate from the Davis GOP were Tanner Peck, a 17-year-old senior; Jill Richardson, a 16-year-old junior; Nathan Sutherland, a 17-year-old senior; and Lauren McMullin, an 18-year-old senior.
Comments