Hayden Schumer had a lot of history and symbolism to cram onto a commemorative coin for the state’s bicentennial celebration.
But Schumer, a 21-year-old college student from Chatham, managed to do it, though, in a way that easily won an online voting competition conducted by Treasurer Michael Frerichs’s office.
“Hayden did a great job of incorporating a lot of different aspects of our history and our regions,” Frerichs said at a Statehouse news conference Monday.
“A lot of the designs focused on the city of Chicago or some focused on downstate. I think he did a great job of capturing our history of things that make us strong, like our industry and transportation.” And, Frerichs said, Schumer did it without producing an overly cluttered design.
Schumer said he started with five ideas and narrowed them down to the final design.
He is pursing a degree in communications at the University of Illinois Springfield this fall and hopes to get involved with animation.
The coins will sell for $45, which Frerichs said will offset the cost of production.
The front of the coin will feature Schumer’s design and the back will feature the state seal.
This story appeared in The State Journal-Register on June 18, 2018.
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