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The new logo for the Nettingham Redtails was designed by Nettingham student Kevin Wright who explains his inspiration and rationale:
Hello, I’m Kevin Wright, an eighth grader at Malcolm E. Nettingham Middle School and the winner of the logo design contest.
After it was announced that I had won the competition, the question I was probably asked the most is “Why did you pick a red-tailed hawk for the logo?” Although it looks fairly simple, there’s actually a lot of symbolism behind the hawk. Malcolm E. Nettingham was a Tuskegee Airman, who were some of the first African-American servicemen who were trained in aviation roles in the United States military. The Tuskegee Airmen were known as the “Redtails” because of their planes’ coloring. Red-tailed hawks are also a common animal in this area, so I thought that they would be a good fit to represent an area where they are seen often.
A few years ago, I had the opportunity to meet Mr. Nettingham and hear his story. It was very inspiring to hear about his service to our country and the challenges he had to overcome as an African-American in the 1940s. It meant a lot to me that the school was changing its name to honor him, and I think that Mr. Nettingham was the perfect person to represent our school. He worked extremely hard to rise to the top of his class and showed immense bravery not only in the heat of battle but also because he fought against segregation and racism to prove that African-Americans could do just as well as, if not better than white soldiers in the military.
Red-tailed hawks are always soaring to new heights, just like Mr. Nettingham did throughout his entire life, and they always show courage and resilience while daring to reach those new heights. This is why I think that the red-tailed hawk is the perfect choice for the school’s new logo.