Park West Foundation celebrates young artists at the National PTA celebration

The Park West Foundation sponsored and honored student artists for letting their imaginations fly.

On Saturday, July 2, Foundation representatives attended the National PTA’s Awards and Reflections Celebration in Orlando, recognizing students for participating in the National PTA Reflections® program.

This program encourages students to explore and be involved in the arts throughout their schooling. The National PTA connects with students in preschool through grade 12 to create and submit art in the medium of their choice – visual arts, photography, literature, film production, dance choreography or music composition.

Each entry must reflect on an annual theme, submitted by a student. This past school year’s theme was “Let Your Imagination Fly.” Nearly 300,000 students presented original works of art to the National PTA.

While at the celebration, a Park West Foundation representative was given the opportunity to present the award for “Outstanding Interpretation in Visual Arts” to Mackenzie Smith from the DuPont Manual Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) in Kentucky.

Congratulations to our outstanding interpretation award in visual arts Mackenzie Smith #PTAcon16#PTAreflectionspic.twitter.com/y7IZDrMHOA

— NationalPTA (@NationalPTA) July 3, 2016

Joining the Foundation at the celebration were two students who earned Awards of Merit for Literature, Natalya Chestuch-Weiss from the Warner PTA in Michigan and Finney Manchala from the Treasure State PTA in Montana, along with both of their families, Talisha Rice, PTA president of Southfield Public Schools and Betty Robinson,  vice president of the Southfield Public Schools Board of Education.

As part of the foundation’s sponsorship, it will continue to be involved with the National PTA and the Reflections program into the 2016-2017 school year. This year’s theme will be “What is Your Story?” submitted by Brianna Eisman from the Douglas Anderson PTSA in Florida.

“The Park West Foundation is proud to work with National PTA as a platform to extend our commitment to support art awareness and to foster a love of the arts for students in schools across our nation,” says Diane Pandolfi, Director of the Park West Foundation.

All award-winning works will be revealed to the public at the National Art Exhibit opening at the U.S. Department of Education on Jan. 10, 2017 in Washington D.C.

The National PTA is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit association that prides itself on being a powerful voice for all children and consists of families, students, teachers, administrators and business leaders who believe every child deserves an education in the arts. It is proud to be a resource for families and communities and an advocate for children and the public education system in the areas of arts and culture.

In addition to the work it does with foster care youth, the Park West Foundation supports arts education, making the partnership with the National PTA a perfect fit!