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The Wellness Council of the Greater Colorado Valley welcomed 447 student entries for its third annual Stop Bullying Art Contest and honored winners at a reception, Thursday, Oct. 23, at the Live Oak Art Center.
The Wellness Council’s contest received entries from three school districts and three private schools across Colorado County. The contest highlights October as National Stop Bullying Month. Vice President Communications Nancy Williams said she sees new ideas and emotions every year.
“You’ll see some [art pieces] in there where they’re perspective on what and where bullying can occur and their ideas,” Williams said. “That is what, I think, is the most important thing, because we talk to kids a lot… [but] we don’t hear back from them. We don’t actually ask them to tell us what they think.”
The contest provided three prompts: what does a bully look like, how does it make you feel to be bullied, and stand up and speak up. Entries were judged by grade groups, by theme categories (the three prompts plus creativity/ council choice) and by best in show. Last year, the contest focused on how it feels to watch someone being bullied. Wellness Council President Mazie Leftwich reflected on the content of previous entries.
“The whole tone is changing as we do this for the third year. For the first year, there was just so much emotionality. I called tons of schools and said, ‘Please talk to this student,’” Leftwich said.
Leftwich said that the schools responded well and started helping new students that weren’t on their radar. Williams recalled that she could feel the reality of the experiences students depicted in previous years but that she noticed a change in this year’s entries.
“We saw more of an awareness of why bullying was not good, stopping bullying, those kinds of things,” Williams said. “That’s, in my mind, good. That means there may be less true experiences that they are having with [bullying] or they are just have a better awareness of what’s right and what’s wrong and how to handle it.”
The Wellness Council promoted the contest with posters, flyers and yard signs. Volunteers worked to also highlight September as National Suicide Awareness Month. Leftwich said the organization put large vinyl signs around the county and large posters about crisis intervention resources in schools.
“The whole purpose of the Wellness Council was to first increased awareness and then educate about the issue, so I feel like we are seeing some of that in the artwork of a much-heightened experience,” Leftwich said.
The Wellness Council awarded Best in Show to Jaimi Neuendorff from Columbus High School. First places for grade groups were Lily Pawlak from St. Anthony (K–Third), Ruth Walla from St. Anthony (Fourth–Sixth), Calista Phillips from Columbus Junior High (Seventh– Ninth) and Dillon Aber from Weimar High School (10th–12th). First places for themes were Angelica Jenkins from Weimar High School (what does a bully look like), Deacon Barten from Columbus High School (how does a bully make you feel), Leslie Ponce from Columbus Junior High (stand up and speak out) and Cessi Sanchez from Columbus Junior High (creativity/ council choice).
