A Freeport High School student will compete on the national stage after winning Best in Show in the Maine Junior Duck Stamp Conservation Art Competition.

In addition, art teacher Kimberly Medsker-Mehalic said students in 2D Design and Advanced Studio Art swept the Maine Donate Life Design competition; three Freeport High School students placed in the Maine Inclusion Creative Expression Contest; and student works were also selected by the State of Maine MLTI Screen Saver Competition.

In the duck stamp competition sponsored by the Rachel Carson Wildlife Refuge, Reagan Davis was awarded Best in Show overall. Also in the 10th- to 12th-grade category, first place went to McKenna Troast, second to Sarah Lano and third to Noah Hight. Honorable mentions went to Lana Stilkey, Abigail Brier, Sydney San, Jessica Minieri and Ashley Harris. 

First place in the 7th- to 9th-grade group went to Freeport students Dena Arrison, second place to Aquinnah VanBrugh, and honorable mentions were given to Brandon Dunnble and Renxuan Qiu.

The awards ceremony for the statewide duck stamp competition will be held at 10 a.m. at LL Bean on Saturday, March 24. As the top winner in the state, Davis will then move on to the national competition. 

Art by the winners of the Maine Inclusion contest, sponsored by the Maine Developmental Disabilities Council, will be used on the Maine Developmental Disabilities Council website, social media, and the 2018 Visions of Inclusion book.

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The following Freeport students will receive their cash prizes for that competition at the State House in Augusta on April 10: second place, Corilie Green for “Community Portrait,” $750; third place, McKenna Troast for “All Inclusive,” $500; honorable mention, Alex Les for “Join,” $250.

Medsker-Mehalic said she was “thrilled to announce that the juniors in Advanced Studio Art swept the Maine Donate Life Design competition,” and added the students have been invited to the State House for the award ceremony on April 11.

According to Medsker-Mehalic, the Donate Life campaign encourages students to think about organ and tissue donation before having to answer the question about becoming an organ donor when applying for their driver’s licenses. Congratulations were extended to Leora Doyle, first place; Anna Labbe, second place; and Jessie Minieri, third place.

In her artist’s statement, Doyle said, “I had a bit of a hard time getting started on this project. I’m not a fan of projects like this – my brain seems to think that it should stop working when we’re given assignments like this. However, after a while of thinking, I decided that I wanted my “caption” to be something cheesy about flowers – it ended up being ‘give others the chance to blossom.'”

“It is a really wonderful contest supporting an incredibly important message,” Medsker-Mehalic said. “I’m super proud of all of the student entries from 2D Design and Advanced Studio Art.”

In addition, 11 works by Freeport students were selected by the State of Maine MLTI Screen Saver Competition out of 20 chosen works. Images submitted by Nora Soule, Jessie Minieri, Abigail Brier, Lana Stilkey, Grace Wogan, Caroline Stairs, Anna Labbe, Ben Barry, Anna Tyron, Sarah Lano, and Leora Doyle will be featured as screensavers on all MLTI devices next year.

“Our students … work extremely hard on their artwork,” said Medsker-Mehalic. “It is always thrilling when others from across the state recognize their efforts.”

This entry by Reagan Davis of Freeport High School was judged the best in the state by the Maine Junior Duck Stamp Conservation Art Competition. Davis will advance to the national level of competiton. Freeport High School student Leora Doyle won first place and an ipad Mini 3 for her entry in the Maine Donate Life Design competition.


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