The Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS) painted a large purple and white banner that reads “Vineyard Pride” on an old campus building.
Folks who grow up on-Island seem to have an innate sense of pride and respect for the community here, and MVRHS Assistant Principal Jeremy Light said the school is trying to highlight that feeling, and promote it as much as possible within the student body.
Light said that after years of consideration and input from students, parents, faculty, and administration, the school created a set of logos and a distinctive “Vineyard Purple” paint that will be used for all the school’s promotions, pep rallies, and sporting events.
The banner was painted with Vineyard Purple, and Light said the phrase is meant to exemplify the immense pride that students, teachers, and all members of the school community feel for their home. “Especially in this difficult time we are living in, being proud of where we live, where we are from, is so important,” Light said. “I think Vineyarders are proud of where we come from, the community where we live, and the community we are continuing to build.”
Light said the building where the banner was painted was an eyesore for the school for many years, and this was a great way to make use of that space.
“That building was pretty hideous. We had some generous stakeholders who offered to buy us some paint. We started painting the side of the building Vineyard Purple last week, then worked on the banner at night using a projector,” Light said.
Light said he is going to encourage students to paint their own messages on the building as part of the ongoing initiative to highlight Purple Pride across the entire Island, although those projects would need to be preapproved by the school.
Folks who are interested in making their own Purple Pride projects using Vineyard Purple paint can request the paint to be mixed at Edgartown Hardware. A gallon of Vineyard Purple Benjamin Moore Aura exterior satin finish paint is $84.99, and a quart costs $31.99.
The school has engaged with BSN Sports, a sports apparel and equipment company that created trademarked logos to be used by any of the school sports teams or clubs. In three to five years, Light said, the entire school will be rebranded with the specialty purple and Vineyard logos.
“We don’t quite have the money to do it all right away, so it will be stretched out a little bit. But we are slowly painting every door in the school Vineyard Purple, as well as offering the sports teams a choice of which logo they would like to use,” Light said.
He also said that seniors who graduated received a shirt with the primary MV logo on it, and the school is working to paint a color border around the tennis courts with Vineyard Purple, and introduce the color into the gym, classrooms, athletic campus, and more.
“In the end, we want to put wraps around the entire facility to really showcase this color and what it stands for,” Light said. “We are super-excited, and there’s more to come. As the company comes back to us, we will continue to implement these logos and color in as many elements of our school community as we can.”
All of the logos are customizable, so that sports and clubs can design logos that work best for them, so long as the Vineyard colors are being used.
In an email to staff, Principal Sara Dingledy said she is excited to announce the new colors, fonts, and marks for MVRHS.
“It was a long process, but something we are proud of having the opportunity to do,” Dingledy said.
In September, Dingledy said, the school will open up an online store so everyone can have the opportunity to purchase new MVRHS gear.
