By staff writer Amelie Simpson

Every year Bay Farm School’s PTSA holds an art competition called Reflections, where students compete in categories such as dance, film production, literature, music composition, photography, and visual arts. “The Reflections program is a great way for students to express creativity and themselves through the arts,” said Renee Simpson, a Bay Farm parent and co-chairwoman of Reflections.

This year’s theme was “What is your Story?” and there were 24 entries from our school. Nine of those entries won awards and four of those advanced to the county level, where they were honored in January. At the awards ceremony, Baxter Simpson learned that his music composition, My Mind is Set On Green, will advance to the state finals in March.

This year, 300,000 students from 8,000 schools contributed original entries. A lucky few will have the chance of being awarded at the national level in Washington D.C.

Bay Farm School’s first place and honorable mention winners received trophies. Four qualified judges blindly judged each entry on the following criteria: relation to the theme, creativity, and technique. A list of the winners is shown below.

For Film:

• “Made by Benny” by Benjamin Serrano (Alameda County honoree)
• “Save our Oceans – My Story” by Matthew Hung
• “The Story Of My Life” by Caedmon Serrano (Alameda County honoree)

For Visual Arts:

• “This is My Story” by Olivia Myovich
• “Leaves of Me” by Lucia Arroyo
• “Layers of Life” by Caedmon Serrano

For Photography:

• “My Cultural Story” by Kasia Kim
• “Books in My Town” by Amelie Simpson (Alameda County honoree)

For Music:

• “My Mind Was Set On Green” by Baxter Simpson (Alameda County honoree; California finalist)

 

Honorable Mentions Were Given to the following entries:

For Literature:

• “A Day in the Life of Matthew” by Matthew Hung

For Visual Arts:

• “Gymnastics is My Passion” by Helen Doyle
• “The Books of My Life” by Lara Pailliotet