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Inspiring People through T-shirts

Monday 26th of March 2007 07:54:53 PM

For a teenager in Gloucester County, New Jersey, USA, seeing her design on hundreds of T-Shirts was just too strange. Jillian Burkert, who created her design for a school project, didn’t think her idea was the best, but when students voted, her idea won and was featured in Rowan University's 2007 "Schools United for Respect and Equality" Summit.

“We had to pick from a couple themes -- stay on track or the domino effect. We had to use the words trust, respect, attitude, communication and kindness,” said Burkert. She designed railroad tracks for the back of the t-shirts with the words printed on them. For the front, she included the name of the summit in different colours. . “When I found out I won, I was at home sick and my friend called me. I didn't believe him. I thought he was kidding. I was really excited because I don't really win at a lot of things like that, and I wasn't really considered to be one of the better designers in the class,” said Burkert.

Burkert created her design using computer software. She tried to keep the design for the T-Shirts simple, but practical. “It's just telling people to keep their life going in the right direction and don't make bad choices, telling students to steer their life to make them succeed. It was hard to get the train tracks right because I kept trying to fix them and the words would get distorted,” said Burkert.

But winning has helped more than just those who see the t-shirts. Burkert wants to someday have a career in design or helping children who have special needs. Of her T-Shirts, Burkert said, “Maybe it'll just make people think 'Do I need to get my life on track?' Even if they're not a bad kid, or ask themselves 'Where's my life going?' or 'What do I want to be when I grow up?'”

(c)Paul Turnbull, www.sxc.hu