High School Contests

What is the Power of Art?  1000 Northland high school students from 22 area high schools shared their answers to this question in the 2007 PBS eight High School Essay, Art, and Photography contests.  Students wrote eloquent and moving essays and shared stunning visual art and photography on this theme for the 10^th annual contests.  Cash scholarships of $1,000, $500, $250, and $100 were awarded to winning students in each of the three contests.  The Duluth News Tribune published the winning essays and color pictures of the winning art and photography in a three page feature article the Sunday before the exhibit opening.  More than 100 works of art and photography were selected for the two week formal contest exhibit in the Kruk Gallery at the University of Wisconsin Superior.  During the gala opening of the contest art exhibit on Sunday, February 3, 2008, in the adjoining Manion Theater, a standing-room-only crowd of 500 people listened, spellbound, as the essay contest winners shared their eloquent prose about the Power of Art.  Music for the event was provided by the amazing Hayward High School Jazz Band, demonstrating the Power of Art expressed through music.  The Mayor of Superior presented certificates of accomplishment to each of the more than 150 students seated on stage.  Dan Corbett, Director of Lifelong Learning at PBS eight, emceed the program and coordinated the contests.  Cash scholarships were provided by Minnesota Power (Allete), the Northland Foundation, Lake Country Power, Madeline Island Ferry, Thrivent Financial Services, Duluth Rotary Club, and a national Power of Art grant from WNET-TV in New York City. 

These annual contests clearly show that The Power of Art is appreciated in the Northland and that our youth are being skillfully guided in our schools to use this power of human expression to increase the use of their “voice” as members of the community.  Yet, funding for the arts in general and arts education specifically is threatened by continued budget deficits and the perception that the arts are “a nice add-on” to what is studied but not an essential component of a civilized curriculum.  For most of human history, it is the arts that provide stimulation to creativity and innovative thinking.  The arts and education in the processes of artistic expression offer learners of all ages incentive to tackle new and existing challenges.  Recent research into multi-arts learning in the United States has identified a variety of skills that could be developed from using the arts for learning.  These skills include:  “Creativity and creative thinking; self-confidence; risk-taking; empathy for others and collaborative skills; leadership; higher-order thinking skills and ownership of learning (Catterall, 2002).”   How could the Power of Art not be an essential part of our children’s learning experience?

 

2007 Essay Contest Winners

1^st Place ($1,000):       Walker Van Dixhorn, Hayward High School - “Dreams of Glass” 

2^nd Place ($500):        Joanna Holzhaeuser, Ashland High School -  “Everyday Magic”

3^rd Place ($250):         Samantha Ekeroth, Duluth Secondary Technical Center -  “The Power of Art”

4^th Place ($100):         Madeline Marshall, Hayward High School -  “Food for the Soul”

2007 Art Contest Winners

1^st Place ($1,000):       Katina Petsoulis, Hermantown High School -  “Thoughts of Change”

2^nd Place ($500):        Patrick Sharrow, Superior High School -  “Dingy Battles the Great GE"

3^rd Place ($250):         Elizabeth Troolin, Hermantown High School -  “Dripping with Resilience”

4^th Place ($100):         Emily Hayes, Duluth Denfeld High School -  “Brain Power”

2007 Photography Contest Winners 

1^st Place ($1,000):       Renee Runia, Hermantown High School -  “Serenity”

2^nd Place ($500):        Ingrid Monson, Duluth Denfeld High School -  “Friends Forever”

3^rd Place ($250):         Andrea Haataja, Esko -  “Subject of Power”

4^th Place ($100):         Stephanie Marshall, Hermantown High School -  “Broken and Beautiful”