WMS PTA Reflections Program Update

From the WMS PTA Reflections Chair Amy Weinberg:

National PTA’s Reflections is a 50+ year-old program that provides opportunities for recognition and access to the arts which boost student confidence and success in the arts and in life. Each year, over 300,000 students across the country create original works of art in response to a student-selected theme, with opportunities to advance from the local to the state to the national level for awards, recognition and prizes. The student-selected theme for the 2024-2025 Reflections program is Accepting Imperfection

Below, please find the results of Williamsburg PTA’s 2024-2025 Reflections program along with information about our amazing, volunteer judges. While only the top entry in each category will move on to the Arlington county PTA competition (that is, those students winning “Outstanding Interpretation of the Theme”), your students are all winners for creating and sharing their artwork!

LITERATURE

• Outstanding Interpretation of the Theme: Audrey Jones
• Award of Excellence: Ellie Sacher
• Award of Merit: Alexandra Birdsall, Tala Sacouman-Minsky, Jackson Wamsley

Literature Judge: Polly Khater holds an MLS in Library Science from the University of Pittsburgh. She has spent her career working in libraries including: George Mason University Libraries, Booz Allen Hamilton Distance Learning Library, George Washington University Himmelfarb Library, and Smithsonian Institute Libraries. She now works for Alexandria Public Libraries and enjoys reading at home, spending time with her family and playing with her three cats.

PHOTOGRAPHY

• Outstanding Interpretation of the Theme: Luke Wilkerson
• Award of Excellence: Jackson Wamsley
• Award of Merit: Jude Marx 

Photography Judge: Lloyd Wolf is an award-winning photographer and educator whose work has been in over 150 exhibitions internationally and is collected in numerous museums and private collections. Mr. Wolf has done assignments for The Washington Post Magazine, National Geographic Explorer, People, AFl-CIO, the Smithsonian, and Vogue. He received a National Endowment for the Arts grant in 1980 to document Arlington, VA.

VISUAL ARTS

• Outstanding Interpretation of the Theme: Khloe Kim
• Award of Excellence: Eliana Villwock, Alice Doern

Visual Arts Judge: Sara Clark has been an art teacher for seven years with Fairfax County and Loudoun County Public Schools. She earned her Masters of Arts in Teaching Art Education at George Mason University in 2011. Ms. Clark loves seeing the different artworks students create and is excited to help again this year!

Williamburg Middle School PTA will soon award and recognize these amazing students, so stay tuned for more information. Congratulations to all of our Reflections artists !