Student Celebrations
Hamilton International Middle School artists win state flag contest
When Jessie Ma and Tiffany Shen entered their Washington state flag design in the Youth Art Month, or YAM, flag contest, they had no idea they would be going to Washington, D.C.
However, these two students from Hamilton International Middle School took top prize, earning a trip to our nation’s capital to honor their art.
YAM is an annual observance each March to emphasize the value of art education for all children and to encourage support for quality school art programs. Each year, YAM coordinators organize a national state flag contest open to all students from pre-K through 12th grade.
The Hamilton students’ winning flag design, photo above, depicted the Space Needle and the four arts disciplines (visual, music, theater and drama/dance) as human forms reaching out across Washington state. The design was made into a vinyl flag and displayed at the Flags Flying High Celebration in Washington, D.C. where the students were honored.
During the formal ceremony on March 21, the state flag was displayed and the name of the student flag designers, their art teacher and state YAM chair/co-chairs were announced. Jessie Ma and Tiffany Shen were presented with a certificate and were photographed with their flag which will soon move to the Old Capital Building in Olympia, Wash. to permanently hang.
The girls will also be honored at the OSPI Superintendent High School Art Show later this year.
Other talented Hamilton students had their Washington state artwork on display during the National Art Education Convention in New York City at the YAM Museum State Panel Exhibition held March 1-4. Those students are Gina Gross, Julian Lewin, Maren A. Hendrickson, Aubrie Kralis and Ilya Kucheron.
The following Hamilton students earned an honorable mention: Cleo Amrine, Kenneth Arayon, Peter Bauer, Aodhan Bower, Owen Boxwell, Kendall Butler, Hannah Canady, Alexandria Chambers, Greta Clogston, Jordan Eng, Phoebe Farrell-Sherman, David Feng-Krause, Gabriel Firat, Elijah Goldberg, Teya Heidenreich, Dylan Jacabi, Ziqi Jiang, Ian Kirk, Shikha Kumari, Marissa London, Natalie Neffner , Kimberly Rapp, Vlasta Schutzenhofer, Claire Sonju, Lili Szabo and Jensen Yuen.