FORT HUACHUCA, Ariz. – A local sexual assault response coordinator (SARC) from the Sexual Harassment & Assault Response Program (SHARP) here won the Army-wide 2022 SHARP Challenge Coin Design Contest.
The contest was initiated by the Army Resilience Directorate to boost morale and highlight the artistic skills of SHARP professionals.
“I am the kid in my family that did not inherit artistic abilities,” said Nathanael Gaines, lead SARC for the U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence (USAICoE) and the Army’s 2022 design contest winner. “I used Google and PowerPoint, and I asked the coworkers looking over my shoulder if they thought it looked cool.”
Gaines submitted one design for the contest, competing against 11 artists, his entry won.
“I figured I would shoot my shot to see where it would land,” he clarified.
Judged upon originality, detail and the design’s relevancy to the Army’s SHARP messaging, Gaines’ artistic ‘shot’ is now immortalized in the Army-wide 2022 SHARP challenge coin.
Representing resiliency and rising above sexual harassment and assault, Gaines’ coin features a fiery, phoenix outlined in gold and embedded in cadmium red enamel on both sides.
An embossed, bold teal font reads, “Power and strength through adversity,” on one side, and “We will rise to the challenge,” on the other side.
The color teal represents SHARP.
The words are messages of empowerment, and the phoenix rising symbolizes rebirth, hope, progress and bringing end to oppression, Gaines described.
“I collaborated with the other SARCs to find the proper wording,” Gaines explained crediting his SHARP colleagues.
The imagery embodies the SHARP mission to enhance Army readiness while preventing sexual assault, sexual harassment and associated retaliatory behaviors while providing care and comprehensive response capabilities.
The SHARP Challenge Coin is a gift passed in honor to those who contribute to Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month (SAAPM), SHARP professionals and those who go above and beyond to advocate and support SHARP.
# # #
Fort Huachuca is home to the U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence, the U.S. Army Network Enterprise Technology Command (NETCOM)/9th Army Signal Command and more than 48 supported tenants representing a diverse, multiservice population. Our unique environment encompasses 946 square miles of restricted airspace and 2,500 square miles of protected electronic ranges, key components to the national defense mission.
Located in Cochise County, in southeast Arizona, about 15 miles north of the border with Mexico, Fort Huachuca is an Army installation with a rich frontier history. Established in 1877, the Fort was declared a national landmark in 1976.
We are the Army’s Home. Learn more at https://home.army.mil/huachuca/.
Social Sharing