On Orientation Day, upper schoolers caught up with friends, learned about the year’s theme and met new students and teachers. But in addition, Head of School Elizabeth English personally introduced the student body to one new Archer — Meet Artemis.

Artemis is the Greek goddess of the hunt, wild animals, archery and a protectress of young girls. She is also commonly known by her Roman equivalent, Diana.

The goddess has been a part of Archer’s history since the school’s inception — the name Archer itself comes from the goddess, and many might recognize her as the bronze statue located on the front lawn.

But now, Artemis can be found on streetlight banners decorating Sunset Blvd., posters in the courtyard promoting ‘The Force is Female‘ and the backs of every sports jersey. However, the Artemis logo’s original purpose was neither for the former or the latter.

Senior Designer Laurel Bybee first started working on a line drawing of Artemis after Director of Communications Quyen Ngo asked her to design an award for the Board of Trustees.

“From that conversation, I started doing some research about Artemis…I started looking at her form, looking at how she’s depicted with a bow and arrow, and how she is this kind of force,” Bybee said. “She’s very muscular. She’s athletic. She’s usually in an active pose, and then for some reason, it dawned on me that I should just go out to the front courtyard to look at the sculpture outside.”

According to Bybee, after viewing the initial logo, English wanted Artemis to appear even more athletic. Bybee then adjusted the design, which is reflected in the current logo.

Athletics Director Denny Lennon was similarly inspired by the Artemis sculpture on the front lawn. Because Archer’s contract with Adidas expired at the end of the 2016-2017 school year, he wanted to use Archer’s new partnership with Under Armour as an opportunity to rebrand the Athletics Department.

“I got caught by the buses that were leaving for the end of the day, and so I was just sitting [in the driveway] looking at the statue, Artemis,” Lennon said. “To me, that was it.”

Lennon was excited to share his idea, but he was unaware that Laurel Bybee was already working on a design of Artemis.

“One of the things about athletics is that it’s a year-round marketing campaign,” Lennon said. “There’s no other group that constantly travels to other schools and venues.”

Bybee also sees the logo as a marketing opportunity for Archer.

“I would say that [the logo] goes with the whole brand of Archer; this can be used for athletics, it can be used for marketing and communications,” Bybee said. “I have a feeling that it will start popping up more and more and start to help define [our] brand.”

Lennon hopes that when people outside the Archer community see the logo, they will remember it and will want to know more about the school.

“I hope what it does is make people ask questions and make people who aren’t from Archer say, ‘What’s that? Oh okay, interesting. I didn’t know that’s why you guys were called, Archer,’” he said.

The logo is already being well received within the community.

Fitness teacher and cross country and soccer coach Amelia Mathis likes that the symbol serves as a representation of every Archer girl.

“I think out of all of the symbols that I’ve seen, this one stays true to me,” Mathis said. “I like that she’s not one specific color, and she can be whoever. I think that for me is one of those things where it actually feels like Archer.”

She also likes that Artemis unifies the school with the Athletics Department.

“That’s cool because I think sometimes it’s school and then athletics,” Mathis said. “Now [the symbol] bridges the two together and makes it more cohesive, which is great.”

Mathis plans to utilize the logo’s symbolism in her classes and coaching.

“How I’ll bring this into my classes and when I coach too is [remembering] that women are so powerful,” Mathis said. “There [are] no limits.”

Lennon hopes that each team is inspired by Artemis and is proud to represent her on the back of their jerseys.

“Sometimes when you’re reminded of your roots,” he said. “You take even more pride in what you do.”

Watch the video below to see the cheer that varsity volleyball co-captain Macoy Ohlbaum ’18 created, inspired by the Artemis logo.