Way to Go! Plainview, Babylon students win flag design contest
Vanessa Espinoza, a senior at Babylon High School, was the overall winner of a flag design contest coordinated by the New York State Art Teachers Association. Credit: Babylon School District
Students from the Babylon and Plainview-Old Bethpage school districts have been named winners of a statewide flag design contest.
Vanessa Espinoza, a senior at Babylon High School, was the overall winner in the annual contest coordinated by the New York State Art Teachers Association. This year's contest, which received more than 200 entries statewide in grades kindergarten through 12, asked students to design flags under the theme of "Art Connects Us."
"Art can mean many things for people, but personally it gives me a chance to express myself and to stand out by creating art," Espinoza said. "The reason I included this imagery in my design is because the theme made me think people can be connected to each other by looking or creating art. People can overcome their differences and become united together by art."
Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK High School sophomore Emma Bronnekant and Plainview-Old Bethpage Middle School eighth-grader Claire Kim won this year’s high- and middle-school levels, respectively. The elementary level was won by a student from the upstate Ellenville Elementary School.
Espinoza, who last year won the competition's high-school level, will have her winning design displayed virtually this month in the Youth Art Month Museum in conjunction with the National Art Education Association's National Convention.
The competition was held in celebration of the Council for Art Education's Youth Art Month in March.
— MICHAEL R. EBERT
Michael R. Ebert is an education researcher and has worked for Newsday in various capacities since 2003. He was part of an 11-person team named as 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalists for investigative coverage of the LIRR's platform safety issues.
