D15 artists receive state, national recognition
Two of Illinois' 24 entries for judging at the National Awards and Recognition level of the 2010-11 PTA Reflections art program will be from District 15 students.
Reflections is a national PTA program that asks students to create works of art based on an annual theme. This year's theme was “Together We Can,” and students created works of art to reflect that theme in six different categories: visual arts, photography, musical composition, literature, dance choreography, and film/video production.
The program has several levels. Judging first took place within individual schools' PTAs, and then within the Northwest Suburban Council of PTA/PTSA, which represents District 15. It then advanced to the regional level, where Illinois PTA District 37 reviewed nearly 1,500 projects, and awarded 29 of its 69 awards to District 15 students.
Those works of art were then judged in the state Reflections program in February, where three District 15 students were recognized.
• Stacey Mau, a third-grader at Hunting Ridge School, advanced to the national level in the intermediate photography category for her photo titled, Thankful.
• Christian Conway, a sixth-grader at Winston Campus Elementary, advanced to the national level in the middle/junior photography category for his photo titled, Together We Can Start A New Day.
• Braden Kobeski, a seventh-grader at Walter R. Sundling Junior High, received honorable mention in the middle/junior photography category at the state level of the program for his photo titled, The Environment Needs Us to Work Together.
Judging at the national level will take place in May. Entries that reach the national level of judging receive one of four levels of recognition: Honorable Mention; Award of Merit; Award of Excellence; and Outstanding Interpretation Award.
The national PTA organization gives up to five Awards of Merit and three Awards of Excellence in each grade division of each arts area. Six Outstanding Interpretation Award recipients — one from each arts area — are chosen from among all the Award of Excellence recipients. The Outstanding Interpretation Awards recognize the most creative interpretation of the theme in each of the arts areas, regardless of grade division.
All students whose entries reach the national level of judging will receive a letter of congratulations and are considered Honorable Mentions.
-Story submitted by Community Consolidated School District 15