A New Crest, a Renewed Vision, and a Steadfast Mission

• Now into our 25th year, Veritas Academy is unveiling a new look to our school crest.
• Our crest uses meaningful symbolism to share our school's story and value with our community.
• Read on to see what Veritas Academy's new crest looks like, and what it means to all of us.
  

In 1996, eBay opened its online garage sale for the first time, two Stanford University students began a research project on internet algorithms that would eventually become Google, and the Palm Pilot was introduced to the market, becoming the first popular handheld computing device and essentially paving the way for the smartphones of the future.

Across the pond, Prince Charles and Princess Diana got divorced and Mad Cow Disease was raging. Across the other pond in Japan, DVDs and Nintendo 64 were just being launched into the world.

Also in major news from the year 1996, Veritas Academy opened its doors as a classical Christian school in Lancaster County, with 20 students and three full-time teachers.

In that time, through all the progressions and undulations of technology and society, our mission to cultivate loving, serving, thinking students remains steadfast as ever. But, just like Google and handheld devices, we've grown up quite a bit, now into our 25th year with over 275 preK through 12th grade students and 38 faculty members.

As we celebrate and reflect on a quarter century of classically educating students - and look ahead to the next 25 years of growing in maturity - it's a good time to examine how our school can better tell our story and reach families. And so, with that in mind, we are pleased to introduce the new Veritas Academy crest.

The Journey to A New Crest

In 2019, knowing that our 25th year was just over the horizon, our board began to consider what we could do to update our look as we prepare to take steps toward growth and deeper maturity as a school. 

Yes, Veritas is still a tradition-affirming school, and yes, we will always love our traditional crest. It remains a big part of our legacy. 

It is also complex and intricate, and because of that, it doesn't always translate well across modern media (think: small smartphone screens...or anything small, for that matter). Its colorful details were lost when seen from a distance or a small size, muddled on uniform embroidery, and busy when viewed in print and digital communications.

Throughout 2020, a team of Veritas staff, design professionals, and board members worked to refresh the crest to a graphic that not only honors our history and origins, but does so in a simplified, fresh manner. Our objectives were to create a crest that:

• Fits with our classical Christian philosophy 
• Maintains a style that is timeless, not trendy
• Continues the use of many of our traditional symbols 
• Simplifies the color scheme and design so that it works well in the areas our traditional (or, emeritus) crest could not.

After months of proposals, drafts, and design work, the result is this updated - yet classic - Veritas Academy crest and seal. This refreshed representation of Veritas Academy maintains many of the elements of our emeritus crest while providing a graphic that is recognizable, memorable, and clear.

The Symbolism and Significance

Bible

At the top of the crest, we have a Bible. We maintained this element and its place from our original crest because the Word of God must remain preeminent at our school if we are to be true to Christ, the Logos (Word), and to our mission as a Christian school.

We did remove the motto, Verbum Tuum Veritas Est from the Bible, adding it to our rounded seal in a more readable form, as this motto was often difficult to read on our original crest.

Veritas, of course, means “truth,” and without God’s Word, we could neither know truth (which would make our academic pursuits pointless), nor could we know Jesus Christ, the Truth incarnate. Thus, the Word of God maintains its prominent place in our Crest

Laurels

The laurels are also maintained from the original crest. Laurels are a symbol of excellence. In the classical world, they were used to crown the winners of athletic and artistic competitions. This element is included in the crest because of our desire that our students would wholeheartedly pursue excellence.

Shield

The Shield is foundational to the crest and is linked spiritually by St. Paul to faith.  We desire the students and community of Veritas Academy to daily take up the Shield of Faith as protection from the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Removing the Rose

One of the hardest decisions we faced in updating the crest was the removal of the rose. Initially, we worked hard to keep it.  We did not want just any rose or flower, since the rose of the original crest symbolized the Red Rose of Lancaster County. The variations of a gold flower did not carry the same meaning or appeal, and the inclusion of a red rose spoiled our desire to simplify our color scheme. We decided that we needed to find a new element to replace the rose.

Adding the Keys

We settled on the keys that cross on the lower half of the crest.

The Scriptural reference of the keys is based on Christ giving the keys of the kingdom to his church (Matthew 16:17-19). These keys were to open the way to salvation - the very thing that we desire as a Christian community for our children and students.

The keys of the crest are very Christian keys. The cross is built into each key twice, and to both keys in their crossing. The top of each key consists of three circles symbolizing the Trinitarian nature of God. Thus, through our crest, we recognize the way of salvation is unlocked by the work of the Trinitarian God of the Bible through the cross of Jesus Christ.

Colors: Blue and Gold

Even our colors are chosen with intentionality. Blue symbolizes truth (think "true blue;" or, in our school's case, "Veritas blue.") Truth is tied to our name and to the goal of our school: that our students would know the Truth both personally and academically. 

Gold symbolizes excellence and preciousness. The wisdom that we impart at Veritas is worth “much more than gold” as Proverbs 16:16 reminds us.

The Gospel in the Crest

The Veritas Crest, in its updated form, is actually a retelling of the experience of the Christian life if you read it from top to bottom.

Our faith is grounded in the Word. We learn of Christ in the Scriptures and we learn the gospel from the Bible. Faith in the truth of the message of the Scriptures yields faith and opens to us the way of salvation and peace with God. The opening of this way to fellowship with God is symbolized by the keys. Finally, as we complete our fellowship and striving here on earth, we receive blessing, glory, and benediction from our Savior. This glory is symbolized by the laurel crown. Therefore, we have revelation, salvation, and glorification all symbolized in this New Crest. 

The Veritas Academy Seal

This consists of our crest circled by a band of blue containing our name, Veritas Academy, and our motto, Verbum Tuum Veritas Est (Thy Word is Truth). 

The motto of Veritas Academy testifies to the veracity of God’s Word. One of the biggest downfalls of our previous crest design was that our motto was often illegible unless the crest was large or viewed very closely. We are glad that our new school seal - which will be used liberally in school materials, signage, and more - can keep this motto prominent and more visible than before.

The Font

Our new typeface used just for the Veritas Academy logo is called Trajan. This style was developed in Ancient Rome, and examples of it have been identified from writing as early as 43 BC. It is the font used on the column of the Emperor Trajan, was created in the year AD 113. It is quintessentially classical and provides the feel of timelessness.

New Crest, Renewed Vision, Steadfast Mission

As the leadership and administrative team at Veritas, we are energized and excited by not only the new look of Veritas as represented in our crest and seal, but by all of the growth and blessing God has bestowed on our school to get us to where we are today.

We know that with all change there is both joy and sadness. There's sadness because past things are beloved and we cherish our memories associated with them. (Yes, alumni, we know you hold our emeratus crest near and dear to your hearts, and don't worry, it won't disappear completely. It's a major part of our school's heritage.)

But, there is also joy because with a fresh look comes a recommitment to our founding ideals, translating those ideals into symbolic representations that help us tell our school's story with clarity. The simplicity and clean lines of our crest and seal, we believe, will help the Lancaster community and beyond better recognize Veritas Academy and allow us to have an even greater impact on students' lives as we grow and continue to mature.

As we look ahead to Veritas Academy's future - to the next 25 years and beyond, Lord willing - we maintain our vision to be a community connecting students with truth, beauty, and goodness for Christ's calling. And we will continue to do that by firmly adhering to our mission of cultivating loving, serving, thinking students through classical Christian education. 

Are you looking for a school that holds God's word above all? That values excellence, wisdom, and truth? One that is firmly established and growing in our community? We invite you to visit Veritas Academy and see the incredible difference classical Christian education can make for your child. School tours are happening all summer. Schedule yours today at the link below!

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