Our School Crest

Crests have been in use for many centuries by both families and institutions. They are designed to express, in pictorial form, ideas that would otherwise take a great deal of explanation. Once the crest is understood, merely seeing it brings to mind all of the elements, and their meanings. God created us to benefit from the use of symbolism, and the crest is one form of symbolism that we can use to our advantage. We want our school community to see the crest, and have a visual reminder of what we are doing here at The Bear Creek School.

As a classical, or liberal arts school, the arts (humanities) and sciences are the foundation of our education. The Webster's dictionary defines the liberal arts as, "1: the medieval studies comprising the trivium and quadrivium (classical education) 2: the studies (as language, philosophy, history, literature, abstract science) ... intended to provide a chiefly general knowledge and to develop the general intellectual capacities (as reason and judgment) as opposed to professional or vocational skills." We carefully design our curriculum to include study of areas that provide food for thought, and develop the ability of our students to think well and make judgments based upon reason.

The Banners
The name of the school forms the banner on the top, and our motto, CREDO UT INTELLIGAM, forms the banner on the bottom. Through these banners we identify who we are, and the philosophical basis from which our teaching and learning proceeds. Our motto is taken from St. Anselm's famous maxim. This Latin phrase may be translated "I believe that I may understand." Anselm meant, and we mean by this motto, that reason is not the only way of knowing. Contrary to modern assumption, reason by itself it is not the sole, or even an adequate means for complete understanding. We believe in order to understand, and claim with reason that it is right and necessary to believe in order to understand. The word credo refers here specifically to belief in the testimony of Scripture, not to just any belief whatever. Anselm did not, as is so common in the modern age, oppose reason and faith. Christian faith is not irrational, but complements and completes reason.

The Cross
In the center of the crest is a cross. Christ is central to all we do in educating students at The Bear Creek School. We place the cross in the middle to remind each of us of this important fact every time we see the crest. For those occasions when the banners cannot be used, the cross makes the same statement symbolically that our motto does linguistically.

The Book and Pen
The book and pen in the upper left quadrant of the crest stand for the arts. We believe that students must be well read, and able to join in the "great conversation" that occurs when thinking people read and respond to the same books over the span of centuries, and even millennia. To be able to make reasoned judgments they also need a firm grasp of history, from the earliest to present day, with an emphasis on the history of Western Civilization, which has greatly influenced our culture and literature. Examples of the spectrum of arts included in our curriculum would be English, foreign languages, various history courses, drama, music and art.

The Atom
The atom, located in the upper right quadrant, symbolizes the sciences. An understanding of the sciences, which include mathematics and technology, as well as all forms of physical and biological sciences, is critical for appreciating fully the Creation, and thus ourselves. We are not Christians who are afraid of science, but rather embrace all knowledge as of the Lord. These two symbols for the arts and sciences are paramount, the essence of what we teach as a school.

The Honor Torch
In the lower left hand corner is the honor torch. We do not seek only to develop a student's mind, but also his or her character. We firmly believe that a well-educated person is one who is a person of honor and noble character. The torch reminds us that what we do in the area of developing character qualities in our students is extremely important in accomplishing the mission of our school.

The Winged Shoe
A winged shoe is in the lower right hand quadrant. It is the ancient symbol for athletic competition. Our perspective on competition is a classical one: we compete in order to train ourselves to discipline. St. Paul speaks of athletic discipline in I Corinthians 9:24-27, and uses it for an analogy of what we are to do in training ourselves spiritually. The ability of athletics to help form character through teaching discipline has made it a part of schooling since ancient times.

We hope that when you look at the crest of our school, all of these ideas come to your mind as a visual reminder of the mission and purpose of The Bear Creek School.