Madison students win state awards in PTA Reflections fine arts
Grayson Bennett at Horizon Elementary School ranked first place in the state for photography among primary entrants in the PTA Reflections fine arts contest. (Contributed / Grayson Bennett)
MADISON – Madison students showed their creative proficiency by earning awards at the state level of the PTA Reflections fine arts contest.
To qualify for state consideration, these students rated as best on their Madison campus. School champions then advanced to district competition for Madison.
Students applied the 2015 theme, “The World Would Be a Better Place if …” to prepare their original work in entries in any of six categories: dance choreography, film production, literature, music composition, photography and visual arts.
Three Madison students ranked first place in their division and will advance to the national PTA Reflections contest. Grayson Bennett at Horizon Elementary School ranked first place in photography for the primary division.
Another first-place winner, Emily Wing from Mill Creek Elementary School topped the dance competitors in the primary division. Phouc Nguyen at James Clemens High School earned first place in music composition in the high school division.
Other state finalists include Cassidy Little from Rainbow Elementary School with honorable mention for photography in the intermediate division. From Heritage Elementary School, Isabelle Bao received second-place honors for visual arts among primary entrants.
In dance competition, Lauren Harkensen at James Clemens earned second place among high school students. Samantha Arn at West Madison Elementary School received honorable mention in dance for the middle division.
In film production, Columbia Elementary School students Will Bagwell and Kylie Gero both received honorable mention in the intermediate and primary divisions, respectively. Horizon student John Choung earned second place in music composition for the intermediate division.
In literature for primary contestants, Columbia student Susie Sorenson earned third place.
Officers and volunteers with Madison City Council of PTAs coordinated the Reflections entries.
State winners were recognized on April 26 at the Alabama PTA convention in Montgomery. For more information, visit alabamapta.org.