Hopkinton Parent Teacher Association

We are pleased to announce local judging results of the 2011-2012 Reflections entries.  Entries, reviewed by community judges, were placed by how well the “Diversity Means…” theme was interpreted and delivered.

Reflections recognizes and awards preK – grade12 students’ artistry & creativity at the local, state and national level.  Entries are accepted for the following categories: Dance Choreography, Film/Video Production, Literature, Musical Composition, Photography, and Visual Arts.  Competition takes place in four grade divisions – primary, intermediate, middle/junior, and senior.

The Reflections program continues to grow, with 39 wonderful entries submitted this year.  Of these entries, five categories(noted below) had three or more entries and were sent on to local judges.  Entries that placed locally, as well as entries in categories with less than three entries, have been forwarded on to Reflections’ State Level of Judging, and will be competing against all other schools in the state of Massachusetts.

Congratulations to the following local winners!

Primary – Literature (PreK-Gr2)

1^st Place:  Ailene Barry

2^nd Place:  Allison Chen

3^rd Place:  Mia Kelley-Lanser

Primary – Visual Arts (PreK-Gr2)

1^st Place:  Deeksha Vaidyanathan

2^nd Place:  Melanie Cole

3^rd Place:  Bridget Walker

Honorable Mention:  Maggie McCarthy

Intermediate – Literature (Gr3-Gr5)

1^st Place:  Hannah Ianelli

2^nd Place:  Catharine Barry

3^rd Place:  Marvi Ali

Honorable Mention:  Mirabella Paolucci

Intermediate – Visual Arts (Gr3-Gr5)

1^st Place:  Sarah Kang

2^nd Place:  Abigail Furlong

3^rd Place:  Hope DeLuca

Honorable Mention:  Jasmine Battikha

Middle – Visual Arts (Gr6-Gr8)

1^st Place:  Mia Coutinho

2^nd Place:  Jacob Burden

3^rd Place:  Katie Litchfield

In addition to local winners, the following participants’ entries have been sent on to State Judging.

Primary – Film Production: Sean Walker

Intermediate – Musical Competition: Alexandra Holmes

Intermediate – Photography: Mirabella Paolucci

Middle – Literature: Zara Ali

Middle – Musical Composition: Matthew Paolucci

Middle – Photography: Matthew Paolucci (2 Photography Entries)

Senior – Literature: Sam Chirco

Senior – Visual Arts: Helen Gao

Thank you and congratulations to the following Reflections participants for submitting amazing entries which reflected their interpretation of “Diversity Means…”.

Grade 1: Ariana Husain, Kylie Skiba, Madeleine Ritterbusch, and Nadia Matsoukas

Grade 2: Lauren Coccio

Grade 3: Jack Brady and Olivia Hyman

Grade 4: Ethan Ritterbusch

Grade 5: Abbey Kelley-Lanser

Watch for local winner and participant photographs with respective principals in the upcoming weeks, artwork to be displayed at schools, and stay tuned for State Judging Results.  All participants will be recognized at the HPTA year-end General Assembly.

Congratulations and keep on creating!

Jodi Furlong and Kathy Baumann

Local Reflections Co-Chairs

More on How the Reflections Program Works
Local Competition
All categories for which we received three or more entries are judged locally.  This year, both Literature and Visual Arts categories at the Primary and Intermediate levels, as well as Visual Arts at the Middle level, were judged locally by a panel of judges within the Cultural Arts Alliance and Hopkinton Public School communities.  All Reflections participants are invited to be apart of group photos, to be published on hptaonline.com.

State Competition
Once local judging is completed, the top four locally judged entries (for the five categories mentioned above), as well as all categories where we have four or less entries submitted, moved on to the State Competition.  Please note, if your child submitted an entry in one of the locally judged categories and their entry was not selected to move onto the State level of judging, we hold onto their artwork until the Year End HPTA Assembly, at which point they will be recognized with an award/prize for their creative efforts and for participating in this year’s program.

Students moving onto State level of competition will be recognized over their school’s intercom, acknowledging their achievement.  They are also featured on the HPTA Reflections webpage.

State level of judging should be complete by early March.  As we receive information on State standings, we will contact winners with the results.  The state will host an awards ceremony towards the end of March recognizing all Massachusetts students who place at the State level of competition.

National Competition
Any student placing first at the State level of juding moves onto the National level of judging, the final level.  More info to follow as Hopkinton’s entries are judged!

Winning piece by Helen Gao

Hopkinton never had a winner at the national level of the PTA Reflections Program until this year when two students earned national distinction.

Hopkinton High School student Helen Gao won an “Award of Excellence” in Visual Arts, while Hopkins student Zachary Ritterbusch won an “Award of Merit” in Film Production.

The Reflections program accepts creative entries in six categories – dance choreography, film production, literature, musical composition, photography, and visual arts. Competition takes place in four grade divisions – primary, intermediate, middle/junior, and senior.

This year’s entries followed the theme, “Together we can.”

The students progressed through a local competition then won at the state level before moving onto the national competition.
Twenty-five Hopkinton students had submitted 28 entries at the local level and eleven of those had advanced to the national level.

Gao’s painting depicts a girl holding a bouquet of balloons decorated like flags from many nations.
Ritterbusch’s entry, a short animated film called “Mission 5,” features battling Lego figures. See his film here.

The HPTA congratulates Gao and Ritterbusch and thanks HPTA Reflections co-chairs Deb Kelly and Selina Paolucci, as well all the students who entered the Reflections Program this year.

Helen Gao

Zachary Ritterbusch

Students from schools across Massachusetts were honored on April 10 in Swansea for placing at the state level of the National Reflections Program competition.

Eleven Hopkinton students placed at the state level and received awards for arts excellence and achievement through the National PTA Reflections Program.

Five students placed first in their categories:  Helen Goa, Melanie Cole, Jesse Chambers, Zachary Ritterbusch and Mirabella Paolucci (2 entries).
These five will move onto the national level of competition.  It’s the first year Hopkinton has had this many students competing at this final level.

We are very proud of all our state winners and excited for those competing at nationals. Results should be available by the end of May.  We wish them the best of luck during this competition.

Reflections is a national, arts-based program that encourages students to express their creativity across a theme and through a variety of venues.

This years’ theme was “Together We Can.”  The program competition begins at the local level with winners moving onto state and then the final, national level.

Center School State Winners

Visual Arts:  Primary Division

Literature:  Primary Division

Music: Primary Division

Elmwood School State Winners

Literature:  Primary Division

Visual Arts: Primary Division

Photography:  Primary Division

Film: Primary Division

Hopkins School State Winner

Film: Intermediate Division

Middle School State Winner

Visual Arts: Middle Division

High School State Winners

Visual Arts: Sr. Division

Literature: Sr. Division

For more information regarding the Reflections program visit the Mass. PTA webpage at www.masspta.org, or the national PTA webpage at www.pta.org.

Reflections Program 2010-2011

“Together We Can”- that’s our theme for this year’s PTA Reflections Competition! Reflections recognizes and awards artistry & creativity at the local, state and national level.

Thank you to the following 25 students for submitting entries this year! Mark your calendars! All participants will be recognized with a reward/gift at the HPTA Year End General Assembly (date TBA). Families are welcome to attend. We look forward to seeing every Reflections participant there to be recognized. All entries will be returned at that time.

*For these entrants moving onto the state competition, these results will be in by mid-March.  Good Luck and stay tuned!

Jesse Chambers, Grade 2 – Primary Division – Film Production - “Together We Can Feed the Needy:”
Watch on YouTube

Zach Ritterbusch, Grade 5 – Intermediate Division – Film Production –  ”Mission 5:”
Watch on YouTube