Story provided by Anu Sukhdial, Stillwater City Wide PTA Reflections Chair

Photos courtesy of Genesee Photo

A group of firefighters on the rescue. A favorite teacher. The volunteers at a community agency that feed the hungry and needy. Fairies that have “superhero” powers. These are a few of the subjects that inspired Stillwater Public School students and their works of art for the 2018-2019 “Heroes Around Me” Stillwater PTA Reflections Arts in Education program. PTA Reflections is an arts program and competition that encourages Pre-K through 12th-grade students to develop original and creative works of art in six major categories: visual arts, photography, literature, film and video production, music composition, and dance choreography. The program is organized locally by the Stillwater PTA Council, in close coordination with the eight Stillwater public schools that participate in the program every year (Westwood Elementary, Sangre Ridge Elementary, Will Rogers Elementary, Skyline Elementary, Highland Park Elementary, Stillwater Middle School, Stillwater Junior High, and Stillwater High School/Lincoln Academy).

Reflections kicked off at the schools in early Fall. A volunteer team of school PTA chairs work hard over the following two months to promote the program at the schools, encourage student participation, and collect all the entries. Parents and teachers are indispensable to making the program successful. This year, for the first time, the Council conducted several Saturday morning workshops to increase overall awareness of the program and to encourage student participation. These were conducted in conjunction with Prairie Arts Center, a thriving Stillwater arts center/studio that offers adult and youth classes to the community. The workshops were led by Stillwater professionals and Oklahoma State University students who have specific background/expertise in the various Reflections arts categories. For example, Jason Wallace, a local photographer and President of the Stillwater Art Guild, who has participated in more than 80 art festivals over the last decade, led the student photography workshops. Similarly, members of the Oklahoma State University Dance Company talked about dance and the process of creating and choreographing a dance piece to interested students.

Every year, the national PTA chooses a theme to help spark students’ imagination and creativity. This year’s theme was “Heroes Around Me.” The Stillwater Citywide PTA Council received 163 student entries of a tremendous variety of technique and medium – pencil/marker drawings, watercolor paintings, poems, and short stories, short films, photographs of teachers, pets, and neighbors. There were several 3-D sculptures, music compositions for piano, alto sax and orchestra; and an Irish dance. Each student is required to write an artist statement that describes in his/her own words how their work relates to the Reflections theme, “Heroes Around Me.” In mid-November, local artists and art educators, filmmakers, photographers, and creative writing professors met to review and judge the entries.

On December 7, students and their families gathered in the Stillwater High School Performing Arts Center to see the beautiful art on display, and to bask in the festive mood of the holiday season. Alton Carter, a local resident and award-winning author of books for children and youth, including The Boy Who Carried Bricks and The Boy Who Dreamed Big, inspired the gathered crowd with stories from his own personal life and encouraged students to forge ahead to pursue their dreams with courage. Soon afterward, student participants and winners were called to the stage and received certifications in recognition of their original and creative works of art.  

The 19th-century American writer, Henry David Thoreau, famously remarked, “It’s not what you look at that matters. It’s what you see.” and “The world is but a canvas to your imagination.”

The goal of the Stillwater PTA Reflections program is to encourage children and youth to use their imagination and talents to “see” and express their own feelings, ideas and stories to the world through their art – whether through the medium of a paintbrush, the lens of a camera, a writing pen/computer, or through music or dance. Keep seeing, keep creating, keep dreaming.

Literature – Awards of Honorable Mention

Literature – Awards of Merit

Literature – Awards of Excellence

Photography – Awards of Honorable Mention

Photography – Awards of Merit

Photography – Awards of Excellence

Dance Choreography – Award of Merit

Film and Video Production – Awards of Excellence

Music Composition – Award of Merit

Music Composition – Award of Excellence

Visual Arts – Awards of Honorable Mention

Visual Arts – Awards of Merit

Visual Arts – Awards of Merit (Special Artist)

Visual Arts – Awards of Excellence

Visual Arts – Judge’s Choice

* Note: Judge’s Choice is a category only used in Stillwater PTA Reflections program; not included in state/national PTA Reflections

To see the complete list of participants and winners click here.