West Hartford Man Designs New College Union Logo

Tunxis Community College student Sabin Shrestha of West Hartford displays the logo he created for the Congress of Connecticut Community Colleges (4Cs). Shrestha won the distinction by placing first in a statewide logo competition. He donated his $500 prize to earthquake victims in his native Nepal.

WEST HARTFORD – Tunxis Community College student Sabin Shrestha of West Hartford has designed a new logo for the Congress of Connecticut Community Colleges (4Cs), a faculty and staff union.
Shrestha, a native of Katmandu, Nepal, is the winner of the statewide contest to design a new logo. His winning entry was selected from those submitted by 44 contestants. He will donate his $500 prize to victims of the April Nepal earthquake.
“The 4Cs was delighted to offer this opportunity for community college students around the state to demonstrate their creativity and achieve recognition in the process,” said 4Cs President Bryan Bonina of Bristol. “The contestants’ enthusiasm for the competition was matched only by the enthusiasm of the members of the contest committee as they assessed and critiqued each entry.”
“The competition presented the students with the opportunity to test their skills against those of their peers and professionals in the field,” said committee member and 4Cs Communications Director Ellen Benson of Granby. “Knowing that the contest winner would have an incredibly unique credential for getting accepted into a four-year college or moving directly into the workforce, the committee members meticulously evaluated each entry.”
The 4Cs consists of professors who teach degree and certificate courses, as well as administrators and counselors who deliver a wide variety of student support services and develop and implement the colleges’ non-credit programs. The union’s members provide instruction and administrative support for degree and certificate students, non-credit students looking for professional credentials, and businesses, business groups and nonprofits with education and training needs.
Creating a logo that is used by a statewide organization gives Shrestha a unique credential to present to prospective employers, said Bonina, who is a graphic designer at Tunxis. “It shows that he has the proven ability to work as a professional in the field,” Bonina said.
Shrestha’s logo consists of the legend “The 4Cs,” with the crossbar of the “4” morphing into a white hand reaching for a blue hand extending from the “S.” The hands, he said, are a symbol of coming together, of unity and solidarity.
This is an appropriate symbol for 4Cs members’ work at the community colleges, Bonina said. “Our members reach out to students to focus on a major and a career objective while helping them develop the values and judgment to become citizens committed to advancing the public good.”
The use of the colors is significant. Blue is a color of the sky, the sea and the horizon, Shrestha said. Limitless, they represent the limitless opportunities that higher education offers and the limitless contributions that students can make to society as they develop into career-oriented graduates and public-minded citizens.
Orange is a color of creativity, he said, a trait valued in many professions. Viewed in another light, the blue and white hands can also symbolize unity that encompasses diversity.
For Shrestha, the hands can also symbolize the helping hand he’s extending to victims of the April earthquake, which killed more than 15,000 people and injured more than 23,000. Hundreds of thousands of people were left homeless and entire villages flattened. His family lost its home in the quake, while his sister lost her home as well.
Shrestha has gone the proverbial extra mile for the earthquake victims. Not only did he donate his $500 award to them, he added another $300 of his own funds to the contribution, as well as $200 he collected in a fund drive as the Shish Kebob House in West Hartford, where he works. In addition, he set up a sign outside the Tunxis library urging people to contribute and providing links to organizations raising funds for the earthquake victims.
Although an associate-degree student, the 28-year-old Shrestha is no stranger to graphic design. He worked as a graphic designer for eight years in his native Nepal. He entered the logo contest, he said, because he felt that, with his experience, he could win the contest.
Shrestha credits Tunxis instructor and 4Cs Vice President (Part Timers) Robyn Brooks of Burlington for providing direction and support in entering the competition. “She was good for me,” Shrestha said. “She have me encouragement in all my projects, including entering the contest.”
“She was that way with everyone,” he added. “She encouraged them to excel and to succeed.”
Shrestha, who came to the U.S. two years ago, expects to graduate from Tunxis next year. His goal is to move directly into a graphic design position.
The 4Cs is Local 1973 of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).