Contact: Allison Matthews
STARKVILLE, Miss.--Students from L.C. Hatcher Elementary School in George County and North Pontotoc Elementary School in Pontotoc County are winners of an art competition in conjunction with Mississippi State's Maroon Edition First-Year Reading Experience.
University President Mark E. Keenum and first lady Rhonda Keenum recently served as hosts for the North and South Mississippi groups for a recognition program at the President's Home on campus.
The program annually brings a common book to the focal point of campus-wide discussion and activities. For the first time this year, coordinators utilized the 4-H program to expand the reading program to third-fifth graders around the state. The Hatcher and North Pontotoc schools were among about a dozen that participated.
The efforts brought the work of author Eudora Welty to the students by a celebration of creativity through dramatic and visual arts. The underlying goal of the project was to give the children a lesson in reading comprehension.
Older students in 4-H from the state literacy team dressed as the colorful bird characters depicted in "The Shoe Bird," Welty's only book written for children. The costumed high schoolers presented dramatic presentations to elementary-age audiences, who, in turn, responded by drawing pictures of scenes from the book.
The artwork was collected and judged by retired Starkville Public Schools art teacher Jane Gair.
In addition to award certificates, winners were presented special MSU cowbells by the Keenums.
Hatcher Elementary School winners included Lillie Hyde, first place; Christopher Abercrombie, second place; Mahlon VanVleck, third place; and Allyson McLeod, fourth place.
Honorable mentions from the school include Michael Colburn, Gavin Deters, Callie Mizell, and Halie Tillman.
At North Pontotoc, the winners were Riley Mitchell, fifth place; and Alexis Nicole Herring, honorable mention.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see www.msstate.edu.