School Pins That Honor the Past and Celebrate the Future

Breaking New Ground

Over the years, we’ve designed custom lapel pins for events and celebrations ranging from weddings and anniversaries to corporate conferences and retirements. However, there was one pin that recently caught our eye over all others.

It was designed for a groundbreaking ceremony in El Monte, California for Fernando R. Ledesma High School. The school itself was built back in 2003, but in December of 2019, construction began on a new gym complex, and we were asked to help design a custom lapel pin in honor of the event.

While the design of this pin is relatively modest, the story behind it is among our favorites here at Signature Pins, and today, we wanted to share that story with you. Once you know all the details, you’ll see how special these pins are and how they simultaneously honor the past and celebrate a bright future for the school.

Creating the Perfect Pin Design for a Model High School

Lisa Holt, a teacher working in the school’s Independent Studies department, was our point of contact for the project. For most of her 29 years working in the district, she has worked at Fernando R. Ledesma High School, and when we asked her to tell us more about the school and the pins, she was happy to oblige.

“Fernando R. Ledesma is a continuation high school,” said Holt. “You have your traditional high schools for 9th through 12th graders, but a continuation high school is for students who have had chronic attendance issues, have been behind credits, maybe they move a lot. Things like that happen.”

The school, and the teachers working there, give these students a second chance to get caught up and either return to there original high school, or continue at Fernando R. Ledesma to earn their diploma. As a continuation school, there is a slightly negative connotation associated with the campus. “Typically, people will think, ‘Oh, that’s where the bad kids go to school. Those are the trouble kids,’” said Holt. “So, we’ve always worked to try and change the way the community thinks about it … So, passing out the pins is just a positive way to promote our school and the things that we do here.

The school earned the title of Model High School for their third time in 2018 by exhibiting several exemplary characteristics, so Holt commissioned a set of pins to honor the achievement. The first set of pins were awarded to staff and visitors and handed out during events like back-to-school night and open house.

Once a school earns Model High School recognition, the title it attached to the school for three years. With the groundbreaking ceremony coming up fast in 2019, Holt reached out to us in hopes that we could design a second pin to honor the event and their second year with the Model High School title. We were more than happy to help, and now that we know the full story behind the second design, we can fully appreciate it.

The School’s Second Lapel Pin

The design of this second pin is very different than the first. It doesn’t even use the school’s colors: Green and grey. The image of a man in a track uniform frozen mid-stride is a fitting image for a gym groundbreaking ceremony, but we thought there might be more to it.

When we asked Holt about the design, she was happy to tell us about it. “That’s Fernando R. Ledesma. That’s who the school is named after,” she said. “He was an educator that devoted 40 years to this district, and he started out as a Spanish teacher at one of the high schools and then just worked his way up.”

The colors for the design were chosen because they are the colors of the University of Southern California, the University Ledesma attended. “When he went to college, he got a track scholarship,” said Holt. She explained that if not for the scholarship, Ledesma probably would not have had the opportunity to earn a degree in Spanish and then his teaching credentials. As it is, Ledesma attended the school and later worked his entire career in a district that is now home to a school named in his honor.

Holt explained that during his career as an educator, Ledesma worried about the students that needed a second or third chance, refusing to give up on them. The community voted to rename Valle Lindo High School to Fernando R. Ledesma High School back in 2005 for this reason.

The image of Ledesma on the pin is actually a recreation of a familiar photograph. “We have pictures of him like that from when he got his scholarship, so that’s an image we all recognize of him,” said Holt. Ledesma himself was able to attend the groundbreaking for the school’s new gym, and even though he is retired, he makes it a point to drop in and visit the students whenever he can.

There have even been opportunities for Ledesma to work at the school after it was named after him. Holt told us about a time when Ledesma served as the interim principal of the school in 2005 for a short part of the year, while the acting principal was away. “Not many people can say they’ve been the principal of their own school,” said Holt. “Once that was done, when I needed a substitute teacher, he would be my substitute teacher.”

A Legacy That Lives on Today

Another amazing part of this story is that Lisa Holt is actually Ledesma’s daughter. She told us about it, saying, “It is an honor to work at a school that’s named after your dad … he comes and visits, he comes into the class, and then I always make it a point to introduce him and let him tell his story.”

Holt, herself, is working hard to make sure her father’s legacy, and the legacy of the school lives on. As a continuation school, the class sizes are generally much smaller than your average high school, giving teachers a chance to learn more about their students, listen to their needs, and help them succeed. “I like it because it’s a smaller school setting,” she said. “A very family-type atmosphere, and that’s what we try to promote here; and helping them get caught up, achieve their goals, and then either go back to their high school and graduate or graduate with us.”

The school pins we helped create for Holt and Fernando R. Ledesma High School honor the school’s achievements and future goals, while also showing the community that it’s more than just a place for troubled kids.