SPANISH FORT, Ala. — The arts are alive and well at Spanish Fort Elementary School where student projects in 10 categories have been selected to advance to the state-level Reflections competition.
The Reflections program is sponsored each year …
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SPANISH FORT, Ala. — The arts are alive and well at Spanish Fort Elementary School where student projects in 10 categories have been selected to advance to the state-level Reflections competition.
The Reflections program is sponsored each year by the National PTA and recognizes students for achievements in the creative arts. State-level winners in the categories of visual arts, photography, literature, musical composition, film production and dance choreography will be considered for national recognition.
Becca Walden, a former teacher and mother of two SFES students, became involved with Reflections when her son, now a fifth-grader, was in kindergarten, and she found the experience so enriching she’s volunteered to coordinate the school’s competition for the past four years.
“This program gives students the opportunity to express themselves through art and music and be competitive at the same time,” Walden said. “We usually find out who the state winners are in March.”
The 2010-11 Reflections theme, which changes every year, is “Together We Can…,” and the students are encouraged to take the open-ended starting point in whatever direction they feel most inspired. Walden said the judging is very strict and focuses heavily on a student’s ability to interpret the theme and then convey that understanding in a creative and engaging way.
Kindergarteners through second-graders fall into the primary categories, while third- through fifth-graders are considered intermediate and sixth- through eighth-graders are judged as middle schoolers.
The SFES first-place winners are as follows:
According to the National PTA’s official website, the Reflections program was founded in 1969 by Mary Lou Anderson, who served as Colorado’s PTA president at that time. An estimated 500,000 students participate nationwide each year.
Walden said SFES has sent students to state twice in the past few years but none of the students advanced to the national competition.
In 2010, when the theme was “Beauty is…” only four Alabama schools had students place in the national competition with Spanish Fort Middle School’s Jenny Lampkin bringing home a “merit” award for her photography project, “Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder.”
Horizon Elementary School in Madison, Ala., and Baldwin Arts and Academics Magnet School in Montgomery also received merit awards at the national level, while Olive J. Dodge Elementary School’s representative earned an “excellence” recognition.
SFES’s second place winners for 2010-11 include:
SFES’s third-place winners for 2010-11 include:
In addition, Charlie Helms, Zachary Lippold, Caleb Clarke and Bailey Knotts each received honorable mentions in “intermediate visual arts,” while Justin LaJesse, Chase Harp, Lauren Harris and Nathaniel LeFever received honorable mentions in “intermediate photography.”
Ivey Shifett earned an honorable mention in “intermediate literature.”
