Every year, students from throughout the Houston Independent School District submit their original artwork for consideration in HISD’s holiday greeting card contest. This year the winner is Jordyn Williams, an eighth grader at Johnston Middle School.
Williams’ winning design will be featured on the district’s official holiday card which is sent to hundreds of people and organizations including community business partners, state and local leaders and parent groups.
William’s acrylic paint on canvas design took her nearly a week to complete and features candles, holiday ornaments, a drum and a nutcracker.
“I wanted to try and create something that symbolized many different holidays and different religions,” said Williams. “I am really surprised that I won. When I saw the artwork of all the other finalists, I didn’t think I had a chance. There are some really talented student artists at HISD.”
Williams and other student finalists from schools throughout the district were honored at a reception at the Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center on Wednesday, Dec. 8. Joining them were their parents, teachers and school principals. At the reception, Williams and the other finalists each received a stack of cards with their design on it to send to their own family and friends this holiday season.
Each HISD school was allowed to submit one design per campus to the chief schools officers who then chose finalists for the elementary, middle and high school levels. This year there were 33 finalists; 15 from elementary schools, eight from the middle school level, and 10 finalists from high schools. HISD Superintendent of Schools Terry B. Grier made the final decision on the winning design, which will appear on this year’s HISD holiday card.
The winning design and the designs of all the finalists will appear on holiday cards that will be available for purchase by the general public during the 2011 holiday season.
“I’ve made a lot of tough decisions as the superintendent but this was one of the toughest,” said Grier. “All of the students should be congratulated for their fine work and their teachers and parents deserve a big thank you for the support they have given these student artists to develop and nurture their gifts.
The finalists include:
Elementary School Finalists: Kimberly Tax (Briarmeadow Charter), Bianca Vidurri (Carrillo), Mikael Ismael (Codwell), Zachery Reed (Cook), Ashley Vital (Crockett), Evelin Rios (Gallegos), Carless Wheeler III (Grissom), Jailene Garcia (Hartfield), Christabelle Bustos ( Neff), Delaney Biggs (Oak Forest), Jocelyn Campos (Park Place), Tania Medrano (Patterson), Cristal Romero (Poe), Andre Bennett (Wesley), Dionicio Mitchell (Whidby)
Middle School Finalists: Karina Llamas (Black), Erick Romero (Briarmeadow Charter), Tam Ngo (Henry), Lorena Garcia (Marshall), Fangyu Zhang (Pershing), Haeyun Lee (Pin Oak), Selena Cabrera (Williams)
High School Finalists: Clara Munoz (Empowerment), Laura Miranda (HP Carter), Nelly Barron (Liberty), Cindy Segovia (Madison HS), Andres Alcoser (Reagan), Meary Bautista (Sam Houston), William Hernandez (Waltrip), Linh Le (Westbury), Omri Freeman (Worthing), Elysh Brown (Yates)
Holiday cards featuring the winning designs from the 2009 HISD holiday greeting card contest are currently available for purchase. Available in a variety of quantities, the festive cards feature a profile of the student artist on the back, so you can know a little about who drew the picture. The cards come with matching envelopes and may include a custom inside greeting. Proceeds from the sale of the cards go back to the schools for educational programs.
For those interested in purchasing the student-designed holiday cards, call the HISD Copy Center at 713-556-6041 or e-mail them at copycenter@houstonisd.org.
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