Noemi Lopez
Roberto Clemente Community Academy High School
Student Design: Number 54
Design Mentor: Number 54 Flag, Strides for Cook County
Carl Vogel is the Director of Communications for the Forest Preserves of Cook County, which protects nearly 70,000 acres of natural public land throughout Cook County and is one of the oldest and largest forest preserve districts in the United States. Prior to joining the Forest Preserves he has been the editor of nonprofit magazines in New York and Chicago, an adjunct professor at New York University, and a communications consultant for universities, think tanks, community groups, and government agencies, with a focus on urban policy and social change.
The yellow represents agriculture in Cook County, the color of the wheat we grow. The blue lines represent Lake Michigan and the rivers in the county. The red represents health care, which is part of Cook County’s history: The original Cook County hospital was meant to be a teaching hospital, and it also founded the countries´ first medical internship. The green in the star represents the Forest Preserves, and the four points are for the three branches of government and the people who live here. Without the people, there is no government to function. And the four white points are for the City of Chicago and the surrounding suburbs to the North, West, and South. The name is also about our history. Cook County was the 54th county in Illinois.
Noemi Lopez Student Designer
Director of Communications Forest Preserve District of Cook County