The Haddonfield Board of Education used its last meeting of the year to recognize the future Picassos, Spielbergs and Mozarts of the district.
Each year, students in preschool through grade 12 are encouraged to submit creative works reflecting the theme, “Believe, Dream, Inspire” as a part of the National Parent Teacher Association’s art competition Reflections. Students can submit pieces in six arts areas: literature, dance choreography, photography, film and video production, musical composition, and visual arts which includes, but is not limited to, art forms such as drawing, painting, printmaking and collage.
The finalists from Haddonfield Middle School were Samuel Tichansky, Belle Romea and Anthony Post who submitted a piece of literature, photography and film, respectively.
Central Elementary School students Daniel Cavanna and Emma Lucille Cheathas received awards of excellence for their submissions.
Fifth grader Dorothy Ware, second grader Aiden McGarry and first grader Sinjin Spellmeyer also received awards of excellence for the film, literature and photography works they respectively submitted.
From Tatem Elementary School, Lucy Fricke for literature, Elle Volovich for photography and Nina Tan for visuals arts, all received awards of excellence. Reece Volovich received an honorable mention as well.
“Each one of these students should be proud of the work they submitted,” board president Glenn Moramarco said. “We are happy to have them representing our schools and our community.”
Reflections is America’s oldest and largest arts education program of its kind. The program was developed in 1969 by Colorado’s PTA President Mary Lou Anderson to encourage students to explore their talents and express themselves. Since then, the Reflections program has inspired millions of students to reflect on a specific theme and create original artwork.
“This showcases the many talents of HMS students, encourages students to explore ideas and express their individuality and enhances family engagement by connecting families and schools to one another and to their communities,” Moramarco said.
In other news:
• The board honored outgoing members Joe Ehrhardt, Cheryl Laney and Steve Weinstein. All three members, including Weinstein, who was president of the board at the beginning of the year, did not seek reelection. The three new members, Carlton Chin, Mary Fagan and David Siedell, will be sworn in at the board’s January meeting.
Weinstein said the district is special and urged board members to “make a difference.”
“We have some disagreements with the community on occasions,” Weinstein said. “We have some with people on the board. But that’s OK. That’s what makes it special.”
• The board granted approval for three new stipend positions: web content specialist, elementary technology facilitators and concentration of studies program facilitator.
• Approval for four new course proposals, Concentration of Studies, Graphic Design, American Sign Language I and Yoga, were granted by the board.
