Middleburgh HS student designs village's first official flag

MIDDLEBURGH, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- The Village of Middleburgh has been around since the early 1700s, yet in all that time they've been missing one thing -- a flag. That all changed last Monday when a Middleburgh High School student made history by designing the village's first official flag.

"I think the new flag is beautiful," said Jason Dannible, a Cobleskill resident.

"It's wonderful and it's fantastic that a 10th grader designed it. There is intelligence in our younger generation," said Melanie Williams, a Schoharie resident.

The Village of Middleburgh's new flag was designed by 10th grade Middleburgh High School student Ava Shinaver. Ava has lived in the village her whole life and said she wanted to make an impact here.

"This feels like a part of me and I need to improve it somehow, or do my best to improve it, like making a flag," said Ava.

The village decided to hold a design contest for the flag last spring. Mayor Timothy Knight reached out to Middleburgh High School Social Studies Teacher Katelynne Schuttig, who had Ava in her class.

“I mentioned it to my classes personally, and I had three students step up who wanted to do it and Ava was one of them and I knew she would love to do it because she’s always doodling and everything," said Schuttig.

“I like drawing, there was a lot of time where I didn’t do work in her class because I was drawing in my sketchbook," said Ava.

However, this time, Ava got to work immediately. She sketched for about one month before she reached the perfect design. Three other students also entered design submissions but Ava's design was chosen through a vote on the village's website.

Ava's flag has a green, blue and white design with a horse in the center, stars surrounding the horse and a few landmarks that blend into the design. Each aspect of the flag symbolizes a piece of Middleburgh culture.

“White for being peaceful, we are a very peaceful town. Blue is for liberty and resilience representing our breaking off from the general whole that we were in at one point in 1881. And the green is to represent agriculture and fertility as we are known for having a very fertile corn field."

Out of all the animals Ava chose a horse because she believed it represented the agricultural nature of the village.

“The Shire horse is a very well known agricultural horse, not for riding or doing barrel racing or anything like that but pulling the carts that will hold either people, corn, other crops," said Ava.

The flag also has 16 stars that form a circle around the horse. These stars represent the 16 townships in Schoharie County. In addition, Ava included landmarks such as a blue line representing Schoharie Creek and a mountain representing Vroman's Nose.

“Those people that are from Middleburgh we know Vroman’s Nose very well and the creek is important to our economy historically," said Dannible.

“It's safe to say that Ava’s flag is going to be hanging over the village for quite a while now so I’m excited that people get to see it," said Schuttig.

Ava hopes that just a quick glance at the flag can tell the story of Middleburgh.

“When someone’s driving through town and they see the flag, I just want them to see like, or feel that’s Middleburgh," said Ava. "That represents our town really well and I like that design."

The flag hangs on Main Street in Middleburgh for everyone to see. Mayor Knight believes the village will keep this flag for a while, and doesn't anticipate another design contest for a while.