Belleville students win big at High School Art Exhibition

Belleville students took three of the top five awards at the High School Art Exhibition, an annual contest sponsored by the Department of Art and Design at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

Best in Show was awarded to Belleville East senior Maia Cerny for “No One Is Left Behind,” a colored pencil drawing that she said was to show the diversity of her friends at the school.

Payton Dunham, of Belleville East, won third place for “Festering Words,” a wood burning and acrylic piece; and Gabrielle Scott, of Belleville West, won fourth for “Self,” a pastel piece.

Other local winners of note:

▪  Brenna Roche, Belleville East, won the Wagners Potter’s Association — Ceramic Studnet Group for “Memory Loss.”

▪  Jennifer Clifton, Triad High School, Excellence in Art Educaiton Award — Student Group, for “Screwed Up.”

▪  Jeremy Monte, Belleville East, AIGA — Student Group Graphic Design, for “Shigeru Miyamoto.”

▪  Pauline Cabrera, Belleville West, won third honorable mention for “Selfie as a Bollywood Actress.”

Preschool screenings

▪  Pontiac-William Holliday District 105 in Fairview Heights offers preschool screenings May 19. Children who are district residents and who will be 3 or 4 years old on Sept. 1 will be tested in speech, language skills, gross motor skills, fine motor skills and cognitive skills. Call 618-233-7588 to make an appointment.

▪  Harmony District 175 will have preschool screenings between 8:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. on April 21 and May 26 at Ellis Elementary, 250 Illinois Drive, Belleville. Call 618-538-6114 to make an appointment.

Kindergarten registration

▪  Belleville District 118 offers a second round of kindergarten registration from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. and 1 to 3 p.m. at each school from April 11 through April 15. Incoming kindergartners should be 5 years old on or before Sept. 1 and need to bring a certified copy of the birth certificate and three proofs of residency to register.

Call district offices at 618-233-2830 to find the child’s home school; call the home school if you need to register a child at another time.

▪  Belle Valley School in Belleville will register incoming kindergartners from 10 a.m. to 2 pm. on April 20 and April 21. Students must be 5 years old by Sept. 1, and have a certified birth certificate as well as three proofs of residency to enroll. Call Belle Valley at 618-236-5200 with questions.

Private school has STEM night

St. Agatha School, in New Athens, had its first-ever Science Technology Engineering and Math Night at the school. Tony Meyer says the third through eighth-grade science students presented individual STEM Projects on March 10 at the Parish Hall. Families and friends in attendance also built toothpick and marshmallow structures, made inertia beads and solved polynomials.

Pi Day

Signal Hill School’s fifth graders and some of the junior high math classes teamed up to celebrate pi day just a little late. Because the school had the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers testing on March 14, also known as “Pi Day,” the school had “Pi + 0.07 Day.” Students in sixth, seventh and eighth-grades helped the fifth-graders find why Pi is about 3.14 by measuring cookies, making real pie and making Pi Day artwork.

IHSA student adviser

A sophomore at Granite City High School was selected as a member of the Illinois High School Association’s Student Advisory Committee. Isaiah Mizell will be among those serving as a liaison between students and administrators and the IHSA staff and the board of directors. Isaiah’s term begins in the fall.

Shock City tour

Band and chorus students at Albers Elementary School recently went to Shock City Studios in St. Louis. The field trip showed them how music goes from the first instrument or voice to be recorded and shared. Sam Maul and Matthew Creek, of Shock City, were able to answer all the students’ questions, and showed them the different rooms they use to record various sizes of groups. Shock City’s soundboard has been used by Saturday Night Live and the Red Hot Chili Peppers; and P. Diddy, Pitbull and Jojo.

Principal for a day

Jacob Flynn recently took over St. John Neumann Catholic School in Maryville as principal for the day. His parents placed the winning bid at the school’s annual dinner auction last month to win him the honor. Jacob visited each classroom and had a lunch of pizza with two friends, taking them along to play arcade games and laser tag. Jacob decided to treat the school to popsicles; and gave his own class a night of no homework.

District 175 approves pay raise

Harmony District 175’s school board met last week and agreed to an increase of 1.2 percent for the salaries of all administrators. Superintendent Pam Leonard said the increase is an average of what the teachers received with their new contract at the beginning of the school year. The board also voted to keep fees, such as book fees, Latchkey fees, and extracurricular fees, the same as the current school year. The board also approved the school calendar, which Leonard says will remain very similar to this year’s including capping the days of school to 19 per month.

Service Learning

Students at Union Elementary School in Belleville recently took items they had gathered to Children’s Hospital in St. Louis. The service learning project had the school gathering items for children to make their stays at the hospital easier. On March 16, some of the Union students and teachers loaded vehicles and took the items to the hospital.

This story was originally published March 29, 2016 at 11:30 AM with the headline "Belleville students win big at High School Art Exhibition."