SCJHS Student Draws Way to Award

Aleaha Parmeley, entering seventh grade at St. Clair Junior High School this fall, won $250 when a drawing she created was judged a winner in the online “I Art Class” contest earlier this year.

She was one of two winners in the Washington area in the sixth- through eighth-grade category.

The contest featured art students in kindergarten through 12th grade creating drawings with a healthy theme that creatively illustrate how making a healthy choice leads to physical, emotional and/or social health.

Parmeley created her drawing in the spring using her cartooning skills. It featured a colored pencil drawing that gave fruits and vegetables happy, healthy appearances and junk food scowels and grouchy personas. It read, “Choose fruit” with the subtitle “Fruit rules, junk drools.”

She found out she was a winner earlier this summer.

“She actually found out that she was a finalist the last day of the regular school year, and later found out that she had won as she attended summer school at SCJHS,” junior high art teacher Amanda Butenhoff said.

Parmeley was one of several students from the local junior high who entered the competition, which was an optional activity, Butenhoff said. She was the only finalist from the R-XIII school district.

Butenhoff said individuals could visit www.iarthealth.com to view and vote for student drawings.

“Aleaha’s accumulated several votes in a short period of time,” said Butenhoff, who was awarded $150 for being Parmeley’s teacher.

She said she is putting the money into the St. Clair Art Club account. Parmeley is putting her winnings toward a new laptop.

“All of the students that took the time to create designs for this contest really made me proud,” Butenhoff said. “I am very excited that Aleaha got some much-deserved encouragement as a young artist. She has so much talent but continues to try to improve her skills.

“My hope is that she will continue growing her skills in art and continue applying her excellent work ethic and humor to accomplish art that influences people positively as this drawing does. That’s why it was chosen, after all. The judges believed that her drawing could reach other kids her age, and that is the goal of effective art.”