Mount Saint Mary College students Brook Mulqueen of Montgomery, N.Y. and Issiah Figueroa of Newburgh, N.Y. show off their winning designs for the Habitat for Humanity of Greater Newburgh Walk for Housing t-shirt contest.
When Habitat for Humanity of Greater Newburgh announced a contest to design the official t-shirt for their upcoming Walk for Housing, Mount Saint Mary College students Issiah Figueroa of Newburgh, N.Y. and Brooke Mulqueen of Montgomery, N.Y. went above and beyond.
Figueroa’s design was selected as the winner and will adorn the shirts sold at the event, taking place on Sunday, April 27. Mulqueen was selected as the runner-up. For their top placements in the contest, both students were gifted a Mount “swag bag” containing a college t-shirt, water bottle, mug, and more.
The walk – themed “Building Tomorrow Starts at Home” – will begin and end at the Mount. It will bring participants on a 2.5-mile tour of Habitat Newburgh’s current and previous home builds. Proceeds will be used to fund future Habitat initiatives. Registration for the event can be completed online at www.msmc.edu/habitat
Joining the contest was an easy choice for Figueora, he explained: Service and a love for Newburgh are in his blood.
“Before I came to Mount Saint Mary, I did a lot of graphic design work for the community,” Figueora explained. “This was another thing I could do to help; I like doing stuff to help the City of Newburgh.”
As it turns out, Figueora’s winning design was far from the first T-shirt he ever made. He’s been screen printing his own shirts for years, he explained.
Outside of his graphic design classes, Figueora is a Cybersecurity major and a student in the college’s Arthur O. Eve Higher Education Opportunity Program.
Meanwhile, Mulqueen was excited to be honored as the contest’s runner-up.
“I worked really hard on my design and I was really happy with it,” said Mulqueen. “I’ve never won anything, so placing as runner-up was awesome.”
Mulqueen switched her major to Graphic Design in her junior year after discovering her passion for the profession. Such a change that late in her college career could have made for a difficult transition. But with the help of professor Chris Neyen, Chair of the Division of Communication, Art, and Digital Media (CADM) at the Mount, the change went off without a hitch.
“I’m so glad he helped me take the major I really wanted,” said Mulqueen.
The Mount’s CADM programs encompass the study of digital media production and graphic design. CADM also offers minors in each of these disciplines, as well as in art, Journalism, and film studies. CADM programs prepare students for both traditional and emerging professions.