‘A Day Without Violence’ calendar to showcase winners of Betty Griffin Center contest

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Thirteen drawings and 12 poems have been selected to be featured on the Betty Griffin Center’s 2018 calendar.

The works were selected as part of the organization’s “A Day Without Violence Art and Poetry Contest,” which gave St. Johns County School District students the opportunities to submit works of art related to that theme.

“We received more than 1,400 entries, representing about 1,300 drawings and 100 poems, which made it extremely difficult for our judges to choose 13 drawings and 12 poems to feature in the calendar,” said Betty Griffin Center Executive Director Joyce Mahr. “Despite the large number of submissions to choose from, they were able to narrow it down to some exceptional entries from our students.”

The 2018 calendar winners include:

Art winners

Bartram Trail High School:
Taylor Mattson, 12th Grade; Lucie Horton, 10th Grade

Creekside High School: Megan Lui, 9th Grade, Second Place; Sidney Usina, 11th Grade

Fruit Cove Middle School: Tejashree Vijay, 7th Grade, First Place; Gabriel Willens, 7th Grade; Isabella Aalto-Luque, 8th Grade; Anna Katherine Yarborough, 7th Grade

Patriot Oaks Academy: Ryan Hong, 7th Grade

Palmer Catholic Academy: Elizabeth Weldon, 6th Grade

PVPV Rawlings: Michelle Abboud, 4th Grade; Joy Qiu, 4th Grade

W.D Hartley Elementary: Kymra Koloss, 4th Grade

Poetry winners

Bartram Trail High School: Jennifer Sloan, 12th Grade, First Place; Geethika Kataru, 10th Grade; Hannah Nierenhausen, 10th Grade; Rebecca Jaeger, 11th Grade; Kalis Figueroa, 11th Grade

Fruit Cove Middle School: Paul Wood, 7th Grade; Anna Esmond, 7th Grade; Ryley Cetnar, 7th Grade

Ketterlinus Elementary School: Gabrielle Duncan, 2nd Grade

Patriot Oaks Academy: Josie Caruso, 7th Grade, Second Place; Landon Mickey, 7th Grade; Lily Clarke, 6th Grade

Contest judges were Dr. Nadia Ramoutar, director of Enlighten Productions; and Ann Kiyonaga-Razon, a poet, painter and yoga teacher who holds a Master’s Degree in International Studies from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

The judges selected the winning entries based on their effectiveness in conveying a positive impression of peacefulness and cooperation, artistic merit, originality, diversity of images and geographical diversity within St. Johns County.

“The work of these students will be published and distributed to every classroom in St. Johns County this fall,” Mahr said. “In addition, the winning art will be exhibited at the St. Johns County Administration Building throughout October, which is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.”

The students will also be honored during an award ceremony to be held at the school board meeting in October 2017.

Businesses or other donors interested in sponsoring the printing of the calendar may contact the Betty Griffin Center at info@bettygriffincenter.org.