BY EMILY TURNERPhoenix InternSTILWELL, Okla. – Students from Maryetta Public Schools in Adair County recently won several awards in the National Native American Student Art Competition.The nine Maryetta students who won are Ella Mounce, Joah Fourkiller, Aubrey Brown, Ally Chambers, Kylee Vaughan, Caden Unger, Paige Fourkiller, Michelle Holiman and Maria Hooper.Maryetta art students have a history of winning awards in state and national art competitions. Some competitions that Maryetta students have earned awards in the past include the National Arbor Day Poster and National Poison Prevention Poster contests. Sammilou Smith, Maryetta Schools art teacher, said teaching her class art isn’t just about art. She said she not only wants to make sure students are accurate in what they do, but that they are having fun. Her students put a lot of work, research and practice in to their pieces before submitting them to any competition.“I have an advantage as an art educator to be able to see these ideas born and carried out.” Smith said.
 
The National Native American Student Art Competition began in 2005 and is conducted by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Indian Education in Washington, D.C. It is open to American Indian and Alaska Native students in grades pre-kindergarten through 12. The main goal is to inspire students to embrace their cultures and illustrate the value and success of education in Indian communities. The competition names a different theme each year. This year’s theme was “Bringing Honor through Education,” with each entry expressing the current theme and showing a connection within the student’s Native heritage. This is the fifth year Maryetta students have participated in the competition, and this year’s students took home nine of the 18 places awarded. An awards ceremony for the SAC winners was scheduled for July 21 at the U.S. Department of Education’s Lyndon Baines Johnson Auditorium in Washington. Eight of the nine Maryetta winners were to attend the ceremony along with family members and school administrators. Each student’s winning entry was also to become part of a traveling exhibit that will be displayed in museums and galleries throughout the U.S., including the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture and the Oklahoma History Center in Oklahoma City. Winning entries can be viewed at http://kids.indianeducation.org.
 

emily-turner@cherokee.org • (918) 453-5269