ROCK ISLAND, Ill. — In just a few weeks, Illinois residents can vote on a new state flag.
The finalists were pulled from nearly 5,000 entries, including one designed by a Rock Island college student.
For almost 10 years, 19-year-old Brady Senatra has had a fascination with flags. He has dozens of miniature flags on shelves in his room. So when he heard about Illinois' flag redesign contest, he had to throw his hat in the ring.
"The seal itself is fine," Senatra said, referencing the current Illinois flag. "If the flag never had the word Illinois on the flag, you wouldn’t be able to tell that that’s our state flag."
His submission is based on the state's centennial flag, which shares a designer with the Chicago flag. It has three dark blue stripes and four white stripes. The biggest represents Lake Michigan.
"Because you get all the boats going from Chicago through the Great Lakes out to the Atlantic Ocean and it's kind of our connection to the rest of the world that way," Senatra said.
The small blue stripes are the state's main waterways, including the Illinois and Mississippi rivers.
"They’re also important to the state's history, and the Mississippi in particular is important to this area," Senatra said.
Larger white stripes stand for agriculture, with the smaller for industry.
"Because the industry is largely connected to the waterways," Senatra said.
He said simple flags like this are recognizable and are usually the ones people love most. Some of his favorites include Chicago, New Mexico and California.
"I think when it comes to flag design, there’s a clear distinction," Senatra said. "When certain places have good flags, where people will adopt a flag as a symbol of the place they live, and it just becomes a pride thing for your city, state or nation."
Those design principles are what got his design in the top 10. Senatra's father Chris said he had no idea about the submission until those top 10 finalists were released Wednesday.
"Of course we had no idea because he’s a teenager and he doesn’t tell his parents anything, but we were very excited and very proud," Chris said. "'Cause we know how much he loves flags, and he’s very artistic, and we like it when he uses his skills for stuff like that."
Senatra said it would be exciting to get enough votes to win.
"For the longest time I’ve thought that our state's flag could use a makeover, and it would be really cool to see something I helped design become the flag for one of the most important states in the country," Senatra said. "I mean that’s a really big deal."
Even so, he said he's satisfied with making the top 10.
"There were some good flag designs also up there, so I wouldn't be too disappointed if something else gets chosen," Senatra said.
Chris said that kind of attitude is something to admire.
"Not a lot of people would say that if another one was picked that that would be ok with them, so I think that says a lot about him," Chris said.
You can vote on one of the new designs, or a previous state flag, starting in January. Those are available here. The flag commission will report that vote to the Illinois General Assembly in April.