Cicero, Illinois – Twelve veteran Morton Rugby players are featured on a new promotional poster with the 2015 Mustangs schedule, released by the program today.
(From left to right) Morton Mustangs Rugby players Eric Delgado, William Jackson, Michael Salgado, Jovanni Cerritos, Ric Avelar, Jesus Jimenez, Noel Ibarra, Cesar Garcia, Orlando Pacheco, Jimmy Quinones, Jose Muratalla, and Ben Duarte are featured on the 2015 poster.
Scholar-athletes Ric Avelar, Jovanni Cerritos, Eric Delgado, Ben Duarte, Cesar Garcia, Noel Ibarra, William Jackson, Jesus Jimenez, Michael Salgado, Jose Muratalla, Orlando Pacheco, and Jimmy Quinones were selected by Varsity Head Coach Aaron Sweeney to be in the profile-raising effort.
Morton initiated a poster program at the beginning of the school year to highlight the athletic and activities available at the high school.
“We loved participating in the creation of a promotional poster,” Coach Sweeney said. “It means a lot to the program to be included in opportunities such as this.”
Rugby is one of the most successful athletic programs at Morton, earning the State Championship in 2007 and 2011. The Mustangs have finished in the top three in the state for seven of the last nine years.
“The club is now recognized as a USA Rugby high school varsity program, the first public school boys team in the country to be recognized as such,” Assistant Coach Adrian Gannon said.
Morton West Graphic Arts teacher Mike Battistoni (left) with student Matthew Vega, who recently won 2nd Place at the 44th Annual Triton College Visual Communication High School Contest in the Individual Graphic Design category.
Students in the Morton West Graphic Arts program photographed, designed and printed the hundreds of rugby posters distributed throughout the schools and the community. Zeltzin Alicia Vazquez (Morton West, Class of 2015) took the main picture featured on the poster.
“From the shoot I had with the rugby guys, I really enjoyed working with a big group of people. They were really cooperative and fun to shoot. I learned a lot from it, and it was really a great thing for them, myself and the school,” Vazquez said.
Matthew Vega (Morton West, Class of 2016) developed the initial and final proofs based on input from rugby coaches and players.
“I worked very hard on the rugby poster. I tried to be as creative as possible,” Vega said. His effort resulted in a 2nd Place Award at the 44th Annual Triton College Visual Communication High School Contest. First Place went to fellow graphic arts student Christian Chavez (Morton West, Class of 2015) for the Morton 2015 Boys Basketball poster, also developed through the new promotion program.
“It’s really hard to beat Christian’s basketball poster,” Vega noted with a laugh. “But I’m a junior, and he’s a senior. I’m not going to stop working. My goal is to keep going. Graphic Arts is a great class, and I plan on going to college for graphic designing,” Vega said.
Both Vazquez and Vega are students in the Print Production class taught by Mike Battistoni.
Student photographer Zeltzin Alicia Vazquez (far left) ran the shoot for the rugby team’s poster.
“It is really a great to be part of a district that has so many wonderful students that want to be part of activities like creating a sports schedule from scratch,” Battistoni said. “Zeltin spent an entire Saturday taking hundreds of pictures for our spring sports programs. Matthew worked during his lunch period for over a week to design the schedule. Having students like them makes it a pleasure to come to work each day.”
The poster series concludes with the Morton Concert Band, and the Varsity Softball, Baseball and Girls Soccer teams this spring.
Sterling Morton High School District 201 provides quality educational experiences that challenge and enable more than 8,300 students from the communities of Berwyn, Cicero, Lyons, Stickney, Forest View and McCook, to be productive and responsible members of the global community as lifelong learners. The district’s Board of Education is comprised of Board President Jeffry Pesek, Vice President Kasumba “Kal” Lwanga, Secretary Jessica Jaramillo-Flores, and members Mark Kraft, Margaret Kelly, Lido Manetti Jr. and Vince LaPaglia.
Michael Flaherty
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