Young advertisement artists honored

By Stuart Hedstrom 
Staff Writer

    GUILFORD — For a half dozen years the Valley Grange has sponsored advertisements in The Piscataquis Observer’s Newspapers in Education supplement in which the ad content is created and drawn by area school children. The ad for the Valley Grange has been created by pupils at the former Guilford Primary School and current Piscataquis Community Elementary School (PCES), and this year PCES students worked on Grange ads as well as a pair of other promotions.

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom

    RANGE OF VALLEY GRANGE AD WINNERS — On March 21 the Valley Grange announced the winners in the organization’s sixth annual Newspapers in Education advertisement contest, in which PCES third- and fourth-graders all draw an ad to represent the Valley Grange in the annual supplement in The Piscataquis Observer. From left are fourth-grader Grace Buehne, whose ad for the Valley Grange will appear in the Sangerville Bicentennial Book; Jewyll True, third place grade 3; Ruthie Griffith, second place grade 4; Taylor Folsom, first place grade 4; Mackenzie Kain, third place grade 4; Adam Taylor, second place grade 3; and Julia Rose Munson, first place grade 3.

    Students in Jane Daniels’ third- and fourth-grade art classes each made an ad for the Valley Grange to consider for publication, with approximately 100 submissions entered from a half dozen classes. The Valley Grange ended up choosing one ad from both grades 3 and 4 for publication, and on the afternoon of March 21 the grade winners, along with second and third place, were announced. The top three ads from each grade are used in Valley Grange promotional materials throughout the year.
    This year PCES fifth-graders, who have taken part in the Valley Grange ad contest in years past, were involved as Grange Lecturer and Program Director Walter Boomsma — who was joined by other members of the Valley Grange — sponsored an ad in the school yearbook and on The Abbot Village press website for his book “Small People—Big Brains.” About 50 fifth-graders could choose to create an ad for Boomsma, being able to use color unlike with the black and white Newspapers in Education ads,
    Grade 5 students gathered in the PCES cafeteria for the first of two awards ceremonies. “We have a little excitement this afternoon, how many of you know Mr. Boomsma from way back?” Principal Julie Orton asked the students. Orton said Boomsma asked the fifth-graders to create an ad for the yearbook, and she also explained the advertisements help fund the recap of the school year with the top three ads to be revealed at the presentation.

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom

    BIG AD TALENT — PCES fifth-graders could choose to draw an ad for the school yearbook for Walter Boomsma’s book “Small People—Big Brains.” From left are first-place artist Sabrina Hamele, second-place honoree Madeline Taylor and third-place recipient Anna Fagan.

    Boomsma thanked Daniels for all her efforts, and said, “I have got to tell you I didn’t pick the winners because in my book everyone’s a winner if they did their best work.” Via PowerPoint Boomsma displayed the third-place ad and then revealed the artist was Anna Fagan before then showing the second-place ad and announcing runner-up honors went to Madeline Taylor.
    With the winning yearbook ad on screen, Daniels said she liked the advertisement “because there’s a lot of value to it.” She added, “There are two people, a boy and a girl, and some fancy lettering in the title and I like the worm going down the side.”
    Boomsma then announced the winning grade 5 ad was created by Sabrina Hamele, who had several family members present as a surprise. Hamele, Taylor and Fagan each received a certificate as well as a copy of “Small People—Big Brains” for placing in the top three.
    “I like books and I thought of half a book and having children on the side of it,” Hamele said after the assembly. She said she thought a book worm would be a nice additional touch for the ad, which took about two classes to create.
    The afternoon’s second presentation was for third- and fourth-grade as Orton told the students they were gathered for the announcement of the winners in the 2014 Newspapers in Education ad contest.
    “The first thing we want to do is thank Mrs. Daniels,” Boomsma said. “It’s our sixth year so kids that did this the first year are now freshmen in high school.” He said Daniels has always been a big supporter of the program and Boomsma presented her with a certificate of appreciation. Boomsma also thanked Orton by presenting her with a certificate.
    “Who are the winners?,” Boomsma asked. “I bet the answer is going to surprise you. Everybody in the room who participated in this is a winner as long as you did your best work.” He said all the grade 3-4 students will receive a magnet thanking them for producing a great advertisement as part of the 2014 Newspapers in Education program.
    “Even though everyone’s a winner, we still had to pick some ads,” Boomsma said. “I didn’t judge these, we have people who don’t know you do the judging.”
    The grade 3 third-place winner was revealed as the ad created by Jewyll True, and then Adam Taylor was announced as his grade’s runner-up.
    With the grade-level winning ad on screen, Boomsma said, “It’s got an apple because apples are typically associated with teachers and it’s got a bookworm.” “I like it because it’s nice and neat and boy that apple really pops out at you,” Daniels added as the winning ad was drawn by Julia Rose Munson.
    The grade 4 students then had their turn to learn who the top artists were with Mackenzie Kain creating the third-place ad and Ruthie Griffith coming in second. The winning ad was drawn by Taylor Folsom, featuring a rocket and the words “Blast off with Valley Grange.”
    “Did you notice the fourth-graders had all the information I gave you?,” Daniels said. “It doesn’t look messy and it doesn’t look cluttered and they really took their time on it.”
    Boomsma said 2014 is the town of Sangerville’s bicentennial, and the judges were asked to pick an ad to represent the Valley Grange in the upcoming bicentennial program. The winning ad for this category was created by fourth-grader Grace Buehne.
    “It’s kind of appropriate as they are going to have a parade and this could be a parade float,” Boomsma said, as Buehne’s ad depicts a girl pulling a cart loaded with books.
    After the presentation, Munson said she knew members of the Valley Grange are involved in the book worm reading program at PCES and this gave her the idea for her ad with a bookworm coming out of the apple.
    “I just wanted something that was creative and no one else did, and I wanted to use a rocket,” Folsom said. “I didn’t want to use too many details because then it would look too cramped.”
    Folsom said she created an ad a year prior in third grade and had been thinking about what she could do in grade 4. Munson said she will be thinking about some possibilities for her ad for the Valley Grange in the 2015 Newspapers in Education supplement.