By Emily Money

The results are in! Fourteen students from WLC have won at the District Level of the National PTA’s Reflections Program, where the theme was “Believe, Dream, Inspire”.  Seven of these artistic students were announced to move on to the State Level in December.

The fourteen District winners were Seth Weinstein for Dance Choreography; Ashley Glidden, Anthony Nguyen, Andrew Shuman, and Harshitha Talluri for Literature; Hana Jaquays for Music Competition; Patricia Hartsell, Alexis Kokko, Jessica Rondeau, and Joel Todd for Photography; and Mariam Al-Durra, Cheyanne Feather, Kendall Garagiola, and Hunter Hysni for Visual Arts. Of these students, the seven that will move on to States are Weinstein, Shuman, Jaquays, Hartsell, Rondeau, Feather, and Garagiola.

“This year, we had 267 entries…I am so proud of all of the students who really put forth a creative effort with their artwork,” said Karen Semaan, second-year chairperson for the WLC PTSA.

Each year, a theme is chosen and students can choose to create a piece of art in the categories of Dance Choreography, Film Production, Literature, Music Composition, Photography and Visual Arts.

“The artwork is entered at the school level, judged by individuals who are knowledgeable in those particular categories,” stated Semaan. “Four winners from each category advance to the District, where they again will be judged. District advances four winners per category per division to State. At the State level, one Excellence Award winner in each category per division moves onto National.  At the National level, only one winner is selected from each category, for outstanding interpretation.”

As of yet, the winners at the State Level have not been announced.

“The theme for 2014-2015 has not yet been decided, but when it does, I will inform the school so that all students can think about it, and start planning their works of art for the Reflections Program when is begins again in the fall,” said Semaan. “Everyone has artistic talent in at least one of these categories, and I encourage all students to participate in this fabulous program next year!”