At Des Arc High School, school spirit has always been an important part of basketball season. Our gym creates an exciting atmosphere, but many students noticed that larger schools often had something we did not: a designated student section that helped energize the crowd and support the team. Senior Brody Swaim decided it was time to change that. Alongside several of his friends, he developed an idea to create an official student section in the gym that students could rally around during games.
The group met with the high school basketball coaches to discuss the project and brainstorm ideas. Together, they decided to dedicate a section of the gym specifically for students and officially name it “The Nest,” a name inspired by the Des Arc Eagles mascot. The goal was to create a stronger sense of school pride and encourage students to become more involved at athletic events.
Once the idea was approved by the coaches, Swaim began working on possible banner designs using Canva. He created several different options and presented them to the coaches for feedback. After selecting their favorite design, Swaim moved to the next stage of the process by presenting the idea to the athletic director and principal. Both administrators were excited about the project and supportive of the positive impact it could have on the school’s athletic culture.
After receiving approval, Swaim shared the chosen design with KD Graphics to begin creating a large banner for the gym. During the printing process, however, an unexpected challenge occurred. The company explained that the image resolution was too low for a large-scale print, causing the design to become blurry and pixelated. Through conversations with the printing company, Swaim learned how image resolution, file size, and file type are extremely important when creating professional graphics for large displays.
Determined to solve the problem, Swaim experimented with several free online resizing programs. Unfortunately, simply enlarging the image did not improve the quality. Instead, the design continued to lose clarity. At that point, his EAST facilitator introduced him to Affinity Designer. Using the software, Swaim completely recreated the banner on a correctly sized canvas and learned how vector-based design allows graphics to maintain quality regardless of size. He was able to make edits that ensured the final image would look sharp and professional when printed.
Through this project, Swaim gained valuable real-world experience in digital design, problem solving, communication, and collaboration. He learned that not all digital images are created equally and now has knowledge he can share with peers during future graphic design projects. Most importantly, his work created a lasting impact on the school community.
Today, “The Nest” banner hangs proudly as a permanent fixture inside the Des Arc High School gym. What started as a simple idea between students and coaches became a project that strengthened school spirit while also teaching important technical and professional skills through the EAST program.