EAST provides opportunities to students that they never expected, and the cooperation between EAST at Des Arc High School and the city of Des Arc created one of those moments for Kyra Hughes. 

Gail King, a city council member in Des Arc, reached out to the EAST program about creating a new logo for the city. After several students in the program created 30 rough drafts, three final candidates emerged following suggestions from the Des Arc City Council. One of these logos belonged to Kyra, who had never designed anything before.

“Mrs. Cox (the EAST facilitator at Des Arc High School) asked me if I could design a logo, and I said, ‘Sure, but I don’t know if it’ll be any good,’” Kyra said. “It was when I was making corrections to the logo that I discovered that graphic design is pretty fun.”

Kyra started her design in Canva, a free browser-based design software, before moving on to Affinity Designer, a more complex software akin to Adobe Photoshop.

“It was definitely a process,” Kyra said. “If you compare my first design to my final design, there is such a huge difference. I’d never used a program like Affinity Designer before, so it was such a struggle to get started. But now I feel like if someone asked me to make a logo, I could do it pretty quickly.”

Once Kyra’s design was chosen to represent the city as its new logo, Kyra was taken aback at how much her design meant for the people of Des Arc.

“When Mrs. Cox told me they chose my design, I was shocked,” Kyra said. “When I realized [the city] was posting about it and making such a huge deal out of it, it made me feel so happy that I actually did something for the community and be a part of it now.”

EAST students from Des Arc High School met with city leaders for the presentation of the new logo, which already adorns the city’s social media page, website and mobile application.

“The students were so excited about the entire experience,” King said. “These young people are the future of our community, and working with the EAST students and seeing how eager they are to help and be involved makes me optimistic for our future.”

Kyra says that this project has cemented EAST as her favorite class in school due to the freedom she has to use her talents to help her hometown.

“I love the class so much,” Kyra said. “It’s taught me how to be involved and has brought me out of my shell. Two years ago, I would’ve never thought about making a logo for anyone, and now I’m able to do things like that for the city that I love.”