Students want to help design Manti and Ephraim City Flags
By Teri Forbes
02-14-2019
About 20 Ephraim Middle School students fi led into the city council chambers last week to fill an important mission—design the a city flag.
Sixth grade students from Tara Daniels’ geography class participated in the first ever district wide annual Innovation Week program that kicked off Feb.4. The visit with the city councils was part of the creative learning element of the program.
Some students who live in Manti and Sterling were selected to go to the Manti City Council and asked questions in order to get input on what kind of flag would fi t Manti. A different delegation went to the Ephraim City Council to do the same thing.
The middle school Gear Up coordinator, Michelle Dyreng introduced the students. She said the student questions would help them create the flag design.
Each of the students took a turn at the podium introducing themselves and asking their questions. Some of the questions asked were: what symbols should be on the flag; what type of landscapes; what animals; and finally, what is the budget and how were they going to pay for it.
Mayor Korry Soper responded that he envisioned a design on a white flag incorporating the high desert colors; all council members nodded in agreement. He then said he preferred the horse, if an animal were on the flag.
The questions kicked-off a council brainstorming session of sorts, with councilwoman Mary Wintch suggesting covered wagons or wagon wheels or maybe a plow. Council members Gary Chidester, Darren Dyreng and Jason Maylett noted the “white stone” that so many historic buildings were built was an important symbol that could be included.
The council all agreed that the funding for the flag would not be a problem. They were confident that the residents would want to help out. Either way they could cover the cost.
Kent Barton, City Administrator added that the dates the city was settled and founded would be of interest. That idea was supported by everyone.
Once the students were finished with their questions and the responses were received, Mayor Soper, on behalf of the city, thanked them for their attendance. He added that the city looked forward to seeing the beautiful flag. It was smiles all around with a few giggles and quiet chatter as the students departed.
The students will now have until Friday Feb. 8 to design a flag and complete their project. What with prizes possible, these students are on a mad dash to meet the deadline.
The students spent some time studying the flag design and then applied these principals to creating their own flags in digital form with programs such as Keynote, Paint, Sketches, Pic Collage and Google Slides.
“They listened,” Daniels says. “They kept the designs simple. They kept to two or three colors. They followed the rules…and it’s just fantastic what they came up with. They’ve done a great job.”
