Art for Reflections' Sake: Wilton Has Winners at State-Level Judging!

May 16th - What could possibly be better than art for art’s sake? Why, art for Reflections’ sake, of course! The PTA Reflections Program, that is! This January, dozens of Wilton Public School students in pre-K through twelfth grade submitted entries in media including music composition, video production, dance choreography, literature, photography, and visual arts to answer this year’s national theme, “The world would be a better place if…”. Responding to such a question allows students to both engage their creativity and open-ended thinking, nurturing both artistic and intellectual originality. In the words of W. Ann Reynolds, “Anyone who says you can’t see a thought simply doesn’t know art.” And Wilton students have certainly demonstrated this mental and creative agility.

The Wilton PTA has been notified that five students from Wilton Public Schools placed at the state-level judging! Congratulations to Will Comer (third place, music composition) and Charlie Jankowski (fourth place, photography) from the high school, Alex Koutsoukos (fourth place, visual arts) and Emily Fields (second place, film production) from Middlebrook, and Harish Subramanian (third place, visual arts) from Cider Mill!

Founded in 1969 in the Colorado Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), the PTA Reflections Program allows students across America to express themselves, explore their creativity, and develop their talents through engaging in the arts in response to a new theme each year, selected from many suggestions of themes from students as part of the annual theme search. After the selection of the theme, hundreds of students across each state submit entries of their own creation to their local participating PTA. Any student attending a school with a participating PTA may submit one entry per category in up to all six categories.

In 2014, the Connecticut PTA produced three entries which won awards on the national level, an honor which it hopes to repeat this year. Judging at the national level will conclude this month.

The results of the town-level judging performed by the Wilton PTA are included at the end of this article. All entries submitted by high school students in visual arts, photography, literature, and music composition, except the first-place-winning ones, will be displayed in the Wilton High School library from May 26th until June 12th.All entries, except for those which won first place at the town level, will be returned to the students at their respective schools before the end of the school year.

This year, the Wilton PTA’s program was aided by Wilton High School junior Jessica Kobsa, who made a presentation to a class, used social media, and popularized the contest in WHS’s Open Art Club to encourage participation. Posters hung in the high school by the chair of the Reflections Program at WHS, Kathie Mandel, and blurbs in the school newsletters also aided in popularizing the contest at WHS.

Natalie Schiavone, a junior at WHS and third-place winner in the visual arts category, reflects on her decision to participate in the Reflections program: “I’d never done the Reflections Art Contest before, but after I did it gave me a chance express myself in ways that I don’t usually get to at school. I’ve been into art for years now and once I saw the flyer, I had to participate.”

After winning first place in visual arts at WHS and representing Wilton at the state-level judging, Katie Cunningham, a junior, remarks, “I have always loved arts and crafts so when I heard about the competition, I thought it would be the best time to show people what I can do. Since the theme for this year’s competition was ‘A world would be a better place if…’, I thought that it would be best to create a world surrounded by words, such as peace and love, that I believe would truly make the world a better place to live in. It was an honor for me to represent Wilton High School in the state competition and I am so grateful that Wilton gives its students the opportunity to enter competitions such as these.”

Most importantly, the Wilton PTA wishes to thank all participants sincerely for their admirable work. All entries were outstanding, making the judging process very difficult. We hope that everyone participates again next year!

In Wilton High School, winners are as follows:

Visual arts:

First place: Kathryn Cunningham:

Second place: Jessica Kobsa:

Third place: Natalie Schiavone:

Honorable mentions: Emma Keating and Ashley Li

Photography

First place: Charles Jankowski

Second place: Zoe Lash

Third place: Megan Giorno

Honorable mention: Michael McElroy

Literature

First place: Jeromy DiGiacomo

Music Compostion

First place: Will Comer

At Middlebrook, the winners are as follows:

Visual Arts

First place: Alexander Koustoukos

Second place: Anika Bhagavatula

Third place: Elizabeth Yoon

Honorable mention: Daniel Hong

Notable participants: Zara Wiest, Ronia Clarence, Dalton DiCamillo, Ryan McElroy

Photography

First place: Henri Pani Connors

Second place: Ryan McElroy

Third place: Kira Skye Howard

Literature

First place: Vignesh Subramanian

Second place: Dalton DiCamillo

Third place: Jonathan Wu

Film Production

First place: Emily Rocio

At Cider Mill, the winners are as follows:

Visual Arts

First place: Harish Subramanian

Second place: Fiona Conway

Third place: Caroline Yoon

Honorable mentions: Tina Pamnani, Lucy Beach, Aislyn Conway, Howard Fields

Music Composition

First place: Jessica Wu

Dance choreography

First place: Samhita Kakarlapudi

At the primary school level, the winners are as follows:

Visual Arts:

First place: Sahana Bhagavatula

Second place: Scarlett DiCamillo

Third place: Sofia Lugo

Winners at the state-level judging:

Wilton High School:

Music composition: Third place: Will Comer

Photography: Fourth place: Charlie Jankowski

Middlebrook School:

Visual arts: Fourth place: Alex Koustoukos

Film production: Second place: Emily Fields

Cider Mill:

Visual arts: Third place: Harish Subramanian

Congratulations to all participants!

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