On August 30, 2018, Head of School Jessica Bagby sent out an email to all ECFS families announcing a new school logo.
Although many changes have recently been made to the Upper School including a new principal, Nigel Furlonge, the installation of air conditioning in many classrooms, a freshly renovated Tate Library, and a new website in the works, all of the controversy has landed on the logo.
This disparity begs the questions: is it really the logo that people are upset about? Or, is it the newness, unfamiliarity, and change that comes with it?
Due to the general response the new logo has received, it seems as though no one knows the reasoning or meaning behind the change. The logo depicts several lines of different lengths forming together to form a sun-like circle which Bagby explained as a reference to the school’s motto.
“As we looked for inspiration, we turned to our school seal and our motto, fiat lux, or let there be light,” Bagby wrote. I love this motto for myriad reasons: not only does light enable us to see clearly, this dictum implies action — creating enlightenment through intellectual endeavor, contemplation, and moral will.”
In addition, part of the design inspiration was a prior Fieldston logo.
What not many people may realize is that the new logo is simply a modernized version of one of the school’s original logos. As a community, I believe we should embrace the new logo as we are embracing all of the other changes and be excited to be a part of this significant time in Fieldston’s history.
“The earliest depictions of the school seal feature fiat lux alongside a radiant sun and an open book,” Bagby said. “We have taken that sun and redrawn it in a more modern style — one that better matches the sophistication of our academic program. The individual lines of the sun come together to form one element, a reminder that we can be both many and one.”
The world around us is changing and developing, so our community is advancing with it. In the end, it’s really not the logo that people dislike so much; it’s the fact that it is a change from what we are accustomed to seeing. Although it came as a shock to many students, generations of Fieldston students to come will see the sun as a representation of Fieldston in the same way we saw the tree.
