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By Carey King
For the past 20 years, Jackson County Recreation and Parks Department
staff members have asked amazing artists to design their annual
Christmas card.
Rather than hiring a graphic design firm or buying pre-made cards
in bulk, the department has tapped the talents of one of the county's
most creative resources - children.
Third- through eighth-graders have penned and painted the department's
card designs each holiday season since 1983, said Dora Caldwell,
youth and senior programs coordinator.
Grade-level
winners Brittany Wilson, left, and Kaleigh Owen (above) display
their card contest designs. Emily Bryson, left, Christopher Matthews,
center, and Jarrod Couch (below) all designed winning entries
for the 2003 Jackson County Recreation and Parks Department Christmas
card contest. Couch, far right, took first place overall.
That year, former director Rick Bennett and former
youth activities coordinator Janet Millsaps started a card contest
as an outreach effort "to attract and engage kids who weren't
interested in athletics," Millsaps said.
"It was for the star soccer player, but also for the kid
who never played soccer," said Bennett.
The contest found a receptive audience in both children who regularly
participated in recreation department programs and those who'd
never enrolled. After local art teachers helped promote the effort,
and Roy Cloer of Jackson Savings Bank offered a $50 prize, the
contest's popularity grew even more.
This year, the department received 240 entries, the bulk from
elementary school classes that submit individual entries in stacks.
Cullowhee
Valley fifth-grader Jarrod Couch designed this year's winner (below)
around the theme A Patriotic Christmas. His drawing will be used
on this year's recreation department Christmas card. Couch received
a $100 Wal-Mart gift card for his effort. Artwork that adorned
the 1992 card (left) was created by Brandi Frizzell, who was a
sixth-grader at Fairview when her entry won the contest.
"(The cards) are great because they show a
kid's expression of Christmas," Millsaps said, who added
that her office always got a kick out of all the designs, even
the ones that weren't published.
This year's theme, A Patriotic Christmas, stirred students to
create everything from flag-draped fireplaces to Uncle Sam snowmen.
"It's hard to choose the best one. We usually have some arguments
about it," Caldwell said.
Caldwell and five other recreation department staff members selected
this year's winners, picking one card per grade level, plus the
top three cards overall. They ranked entries based on creativity
and originality, neatness, attractiveness and spelling.
This year's first-, second- and third-place winners took home
Wal-Mart gift cards valued at $75, $50 and $25, respectively.
Grade-level winners received $15 cards.
For the six years she's worked at the recreation department, Caldwell
has had the lucky job of announcing the winners. She hunts down
students at school and pulls them out of class to break the news.
"Oh, goodness! They are all so surprised and shocked when
they win," Caldwell said.
Approximately 250 recreation department sponsors and participants
will receive cards this year designed by first-place overall winner
Jarrod Couch, a fifth-grader at Cullowhee Valley School.
When Caldwell told him that he'd won, Couch said he "couldn't
hardly believe it."
The win came at a very opportune time.
"I went home and told my mom, 'I've got two things I've got
to tell you. One is that I got called to the office, but the other
is that I won the recreation department Christmas card contest,'"
Couch said.
As the days of Santa's gift-giving draw near, Couch is hoping
the two bits of news will balance each other out.
This year's other overall winners include:
- 2nd place Ana-Maria Balta, sixth grade, Scotts Creek Elementary
School.
- 3rd place Germain Fuentes, fourth grade, Fairview Elementary
School.
Grade-level winners are:
- Third grade Emily Bryson, Fairview Elementary School.
- Fourth grade Kaleigh Owen, Scotts Creek Elementary School.
- Fifth grade Shayla Jackson, Fairview Elementary School.
- Sixth grade Christopher Matthews, Cullowhee Valley School.
- Seventh grade Brittany Wilson, Fairview Elementary School.
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