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Students, parents and community leaders all gathered together for an evening of artistic celebration and recognition at Pelham Park Middle School on the evening of Tuesday, Jan. 30 for the second annual Pelham Superintendent’s Art Show. (Reporter photo/Donald Mottern)

By DONALD MOTTERN | Staff Writer

PELHAM – Students, parents and community leaders all gathered together for an evening of artistic celebration and recognition at Pelham Park Middle School on the evening of Tuesday, Jan. 30 for the second annual Pelham Superintendent’s Art Show.

The show, which began at 4:30 p.m. and lasted for roughly an hour, provided an opportunity to showcase the variety of art and talent presented by students from all of Pelham City Schools and saw a large turnout from students and their families who eagerly toured the work.

Students and parents were also able to meet and speak with community leaders throughout the event, which included Superintendent Dr. Chuck Ledbetter and members of the Pelham City Schools Board of Education who personally congratulated multiple students on the quality of their work.

While serving as an opportunity to highlight the students, the art show also served as a cornerstone event for Pelham City School’s Village Voices program.

“Village Voices is our family outreach program,” said Shannon Bogert, chief academic officer for PCS. “The art show is designed to have families come in and meet with our educators and help focus on and celebrate our students.”

Village Voices, which began in January, will continue onward through May of this year with the overall intent of bridging the connection between families, schools and the larger Pelham community as a whole. In doing so, January specifically highlighted the role art plays in benefiting a student’s overall well-being and academic success.

Village Voices, and the art show itself, sought to highlight four key points pertaining to how art and its use in the classroom can further academic success:

•  Enhanced Creativity – Beyond simply the creativity displayed on a canvas, art lends to further creative thinking and aids in the development and training of problem-solving and critical analysis capabilities.
•  Improved focus and concentration – Activities with an artistic focus demand focus and attention to detail which can bolster performance in concentration and other academic tasks through the development of a healthy attention span.
•  Cross-disciplinary connections – Skills and knowledge gained through artistic endeavors can be applied across a nearly limitless number of other subjects and can indirectly, but greatly, boost performance in math, science and language arts.
•  Fostering of a joyful learning experience – Simply adding art to a student’s routine can bring joy to learning and the creation of a positive learning environment can foster enthusiasm and enhance motivation toward the learning of all subjects.

“We have students from all over our district on display tonight with each of our schools represented,” Bogert said. “The students worked with their art teachers to be able to have some art to display in this ceremony.”

Among the materials, methods and mediums on display at the night’s art show were creative examples of photography, collages, water colors, pen and pencil works, charcoals, paintings and more. All entries of which equally lent credence to the amount of talent within the walls and through the halls of Pelham City Schools.

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