By Rachael Astorga, the East Cobb County Council (ECCC) PTA Reflections Chair and the art specialist at Mt. Bethel Elementary School.
What is your story? If you were to answer that question in a painting, drawing, or photograph, what would it look like?
This fall, over 1,000 East Cobb students pondered that question and created original dances, music compositions, short stories, poems, paintings, films and sculptures that reflected who they are, what they dream of and where they want to go in life.
Each fall, PTAs serving our schools across the country participate in the National PTA Reflections Program, and our East Cobb County Council of PTAs (ECCC PTA) and East Cobb schools also embark on this journey together to celebrate our children’s artistic ability.
National PTA Reflections is America’s oldest and largest arts education program of its kind. The program was developed in 1969 by Colorado’s PTA President Mary Lou Anderson to encourage students to explore their talents and express themselves. Since then, the Reflections Arts Program has inspired millions of students to reflect on a specific theme and create original artwork.
Each year, students in grades Kindergarten through 12 are recognized forbringing the theme to life through Film Production, Dance Choreography, Literature, Music Composition, Photography, and Visual Arts.
During the fall, students work tirelessly on their entries, which are judged at the local school level on how well they represent the year’s theme, which currently is “What is Your Story?” Winning entries from each of our 35 local East Cobb schools advance to represent their school at an additional level of judging, coordinated by our ECCC PTA.
For the ECCC PTA Reflections Art Contest, judges select two winners per grade and category, and those entries advance to the Georgia PTA competition.
Subsequent winning entries move on to the National PTA Reflections contest. Judges look for personal interpretations of the theme that best exemplify creativity and technical skill.
This year, over 1,000 East Cobb area students participated in the Reflections program at their schools, and 450 winners advanced to the ECCC PTA level of the competition. After conducting its own contest, the ECCC PTA submitted 130 winning entries to the Georgia PTA Reflections contest. We are hopeful again that East Cobb students will win at the GA PTA competition level and move on to compete in the National PTA Reflections contest.
Last year, The ECCC PTA advanced fifteen submissions to the national level and two elementary students (from Shallowford Falls ES and Sope Creek ES) won Awards of Excellence and Merit in Photography.
The ECCC PTA will hold a Reflections Award Ceremony for the students who won at the ECCC PTA competition level in January.
Taking part in the Reflections program is a powerful way for students to engage in and explore the arts. As an arts educator, I have seen the power of transformation that the arts can have on a child. Nothing can explore and develop students’ creativity and imagination better than participation in the arts. Art helps children understand other subjects much more clearly—from math and science, to language arts and geography.
As a community, let us continue supporting our students as they express themselves creatively by showcasing their art in our workplaces, by volunteering as judges and as Reflections committee chairs, and by supporting the Reflections program.
It’s not too early to reflect on the 2017-2018 Reflections program theme, which is “Within Reach.” For more information on the Reflections Program, please visit: www.ecccpta.org/reflections.
While not teaching art, Astorga is the also the proud mom of a Shallowford Falls 5th grader, a Hightower Trail 7th
grader, and a Pope freshman.
