On January 4, 2006 the Gill-Montague Education Association received the presentation made by Derrick Zellmann, a 2003 graduate of Turners Falls High School , with great enthusiasm. The 21 year old junior at Bridgewater State College, majoring in Graphic Design had been asked by the committee to create an original logo to be used for their letterhead and promotional material. Using the symbolism from a logo created by Joyce Phillips, Derrick incorporated the academics, arts, and athletics with the symbolism of a pencil, bat and ball, paintbrush and the music staff to form the connecting lines of a star. The star represents the celebration of the total enrichment of students. The board voted unanimously to accept Derrick’s design.
Derrick was honored when his third grade teacher Sherry Wood, a member of the GMEF, asked him to work on the design. He was happy to give back to the school district he attended from kindergarten through graduation. Derrick is proud of the education he received in Gill-Montague. Athletics and arts were very important to Derrick throughout his years there. He was a 3-season athlete all his years at TFHS. He loved his art experiences in elementary school with Mary Forrest, and knew through course work with Bill Hazlett in Middle school and Jeff Jobst in High School that he needed to incorporate art into his career. Derrick presented the logo with all his original art work to the committee just in time to help with the 2006 Gala, “A Concert with Elisabeth von Trapp” on Saturday, April 29, 2006 at the Turners Falls High School Theater.
