First Independent Bank on Wednesday unveiled the winning design in its poster contest commemorating 100 years of business in Clark County. The bank awarded three Clark College art students, out of a dozen finalists, a total of $1,850 for their designs.
The art will be displayed in First Independent branches and other community locations throughout 2010, the bank’s anniversary year.
Chief Operating Officer Jeanne Firstenburg and Clark College President Bob Knight presided over the event at Clark College’s main Vancouver campus.
“We are delighted to create an opportunity to showcase student work and provide a little financial assistance to these creative design students,” Firstenburg said.
o First place ($1,000 award): Maggee McCarney.
o Second place ($500 award): Shelley Miller.
o Third place ($350 award): Sarah Campeau.
First-place winner Maggee McCarney, a part-time student studying graphic design at Clark College, received $1,000 from the bank for her poster, which features a shaft of light shining down on an outstretched hand that holds the First Indy logo aloft like a prize.
McCarney said the bank’s graphic artist and design professor at the college, Kathrena Halsinger, asked the entrants to think of a bank’s role in the community for inspiration in their designs.
“The bank’s function is support and lending a hand to the community,” McCarney said. “And of course the hand had to be holding the logo.”
McCarney, who works as a caregiver for the elderly when she’s not attending classes, says she plans to use the prize to help pay her bills.
Second-place winner Shelley Miller received a $500 prize, and third-place winner Sarah Campeau won $350.
“The symbolism (of the design) is perfect,” Knight said. “(First Independent) has always been there for us with scholarship support.”
More than 20 years ago, First Independent established a scholarship fund for incoming Clark College students interested in business. More than 100 students have since benefited from the endowment, Knight said.
“First Indy has always been involved with education,” said Jeff Firstenburg, senior vice president and principal at First Independent. “Our grandfather (E.W. Firstenburg) was a teacher before he founded the bank.”
