The nine First Prize and Honorable Mention winners of the second annual Student Creative Expression Contest sponsored by the Arcadia Historical Society were honored during the Society’s membership meeting Sunday, May 16, at the Community Center, attended by more than 120 students, family, and Society members.
Nearly all of the attendees, including most of the 55 students who submitted entries and their families, also enjoyed a fun and historically educational afternoon in the forest and collected more prizes, including a Grand Prize $170 bicycle courtesy of Helen’s Cycles, and sling bags provided by EmbroidMe of Arcadia.
Winning art projects will be displayed at Westfield Santa Anita in windows at the outdoor Promenade and near the California Pizza Kitchen (CPK) from Saturday, June 26, through Friday, July 9. Many more entries will be exhibited at the Ruth and Charles Gilb Arcadia Historical Museum from July 17 – August 14, with an opening reception at 2 p.m. on July 24.
(Story continues below following 2 1/2-minute video highlight of the awards program and the field trip for contestants to the Adams’ Pack Station at Chantry Flat in the forest.)
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A winner and two honorable mention recipients in each of three categories — Elementary, Middle School, and High School (listed below) — were chosen from among 55 entries by a panel of judges from the Society board of directors. Each won a cash prize ranging from $25 – $150 for their projects depicting the theme “History Lives Here” through their choice of various styles of artwork, poems, and essays. Friends of the Museum representative Beverly Street contributed to help fund the $125 in cash awards for the elementary student contestants.
After the half-hour program, during which refreshments were provided by the Friends of the Museum, all attendees were invited to ride one of two 56-passenger buses rented for the occasion by Society vice president Carol Libby to the historic Adams’ Pack Station at Chantry Flat three miles above Arcadia in the Angeles National Forest. There, the Society was presented with a certificate of appreciation from Pack Station co-owner Deb Burgess for raising more than $2,500 to help save the last-of-its-kind 74-year-old Pack Station from being forced to shut down. The money, which included a $1,000 donation from Mount Lowe Preservation Society founder Michael Patris, who also received a certificate of appreciation, helped cover nearly $12,000 in expenses needed to meet health code demands by Los Angeles County.
Grand Prize donated by Helen's Cycles
Also at the Pack Station, a special Grand Prize was announced and awarded to Michael Wang, a fifth grader at Holy Angels School, who won a $170 bicycle that was generously donated for the Grand Prize by Helen’s Cycles at 142 E. Huntington Dr. A big thanks to store manager James Jackson.
Other local merchants also kindly donated to the contest. EmbroidMe of Arcadia, in the retail plaza at 411 E. Huntington Dr., Suite 113, donated five trendy sling and messenger bags and Desiree Alvarado even embroidered the Society’s logo on each one.
Sling bags donated for student prizes by EmbroidMe.
Free raffle tickets were given to each student entrant as they boarded the bus, and the bags were given to students with winning numbers. More than two dozen additional gifts were given out to most other students by raffle, including a large canvas bag with rollers, a tote bag filled with hand games and a DVD, and more than 20 new movies on Blu-ray Disc.
Special thanks to REI outreach specialist Jean Lim who coordinated enough donations of sport water bottles and 15% discount coupons from the REI Arcadia store at 214 N. Santa Anita Avenue to cover every student who submitted an entry and attended the event on Sunday. The items were included in goody bags also provided by Carol that included filled water bottles, cookies and $2 discount coupons for Baskin-Robbins ice cream. Deb Burgess also provided each student entrant with a collectible Friends of the San Gabriels patch.
The annual Creative Expression Contest is designed to encourage any and all students living or attending public or private schools in Arcadia to learn more about their city’s history and express it in a creative form of their own choosing. Those projects are then displayed for the benefit of others to learn and appreciate. In addition to the winners on display at the Westfield Santa Anita mall, an exhibit of most of the 55 submissions, including a notebook of all three dozen essays and poems, will be on display at the Ruth and Charles Gilb Arcadia Historical Museum from July 17 – August 14, with an opening reception at 2 p.m. on July 24.
All entrants also received a free one-year Family Membership in the Historical Society, a $30 value that entitles them to receive the quarterly Caminos newsletter, free admission to quarterly Society programs, and other benefits.
— By Scott Hettrick
Arcadia Historical Society Creative Expression Student Contest Winners May 16, 2010:
Grand Prize
Michael Yang, 5th grade (artwork)
Holy Angels School
Elementary School First Place ($75) Shyanne Zeng, 2nd grade (artwork) Camino Grove Elementary School
Honorable Mention ($25) Edrick Tan, 4th grade (poem) Hugo Reid Elementary School
Honorable Mention ($25) Frank Lee, 4th grade (poem) Camino Grove Elementary School
Middle School First Place ($100) Lauri Li, 7th grade (pencil drawing) Dana Middle School
Honorable Mention ($50) Nina Ye, 7th grade (artwork) First Avenue Middle School
Honorable Mention ($50) Jacky Kwok, 7th grade (essay) First Avenue Middle School
High School First Place ($150) Shiyun Zhang 9th grade (artwork)
Honorable Mention ($75) Rochelle Lai 9th grade (artwork)
Honorable Mention ($75) Samantha Wang 9th grade (artwork)