Students place in Junior Duck Stamp Contest
THE JUNIOR DUCK STAMP CONTEST, sponsored by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, allows students to demonstrate their artistic skills by drawing, painting or sketching a picture of an eligible North American waterfowl species. One image nationwide will become the next Junior Duck Stamp and will be sold by the U.S. Postal Service.
Seven Gifted and Talented Visual Arts students at Zippel Elementary School were recently recognized for their artistic efforts in the annual competition. Pictured are, from left, front row: grade 4-6 first-place winner Sarah Beaulieu and Kristen Chambers, second-place winner in the K-3 division. Back row: grade 4-6 third-place winners Damon Underwood and Grace Bemis, grade 4-6 Honorable Mention recipients Jordan Plummer, Mayce Kinney and Madison Michaud, and Ruth McAtee, visual arts teacher at Zippel.
By Scott Mitchell Johnson
PRESQUE ISLE — Seven Gifted and Talented Visual Arts students at Zippel Elementary School were recently recognized for their artistic endeavors in the annual Junior Duck Stamp Design Contest, sponsored by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
The contest allows students to demonstrate their artistic skills by drawing, painting or sketching a picture of an eligible North American waterfowl species.
“Participation in the Junior Duck Stamp Art Contest allows students to move beyond simply ‘learning about’ wildlife and wildlife art to testing their abilities as wildlife artists,” said Ruth McAtee, visual arts teacher at Zippel.
Students from around the United States submit drawings to their state, territory or district competition. Winners from these competitions, called the “Best of Show,” are then submitted to the national Junior Duck Stamp Contest. One image from the 53 Best of Show entries will become the next Junior Duck Stamp.
The first-place design from the national contest is used to create a Junior Duck Stamp for the following year. Junior Duck Stamps are sold for $5 each by the U.S. Postal Service, Amplex Corp. and various National Wildlife Refuges. Proceeds from the sale of the stamps support conservation education, and provide awards and scholarships for the students, teachers and schools that participate in the program.
Students are separated into four categories — grades K-3, 4-6, 7-9 and 10-12.
In each category, three first-place, three second-place, three third-place, and three honorable mentions are chosen. This creates a pool of 12 winners per category for each state. The 12 first-place winners in each state are then judged to choose a “Best of Show” for the state.
The G/T visual arts students at Zippel that placed include: Grade 4-6: Mayce Kinney, Madison Michaud and Jordan Plummer (honorable mention), third place: Damon Underwood and Grace Bemis, and first place: Sarah Beaulieu.
In the grade K-3 category: second place: Kristen Chambers.
Ribbons were awarded to each of the winners, and the first-, second- and third-place winners all received prizes.
Beaulieu received a Sibley Bird Book, $20 LL Bean gift card, colored pencils and a first-place ribbon; Chambers earned a Sibley Bird Book, calendar and a second-place ribbon; Underwood and Bemis each received a Waterfowl of North America book and a third-place ribbon; and Plummer, Michaud and Kinney each received honorable mention ribbons. Certificates will go to all students who participated in the contest.
Beaulieu’s first-place creation was a watercolor of a cinnamon teal duck.
“Watercolors are very nice to use. They’re easy to use and they’re very colorful,” she said. “We were given a list of the types of ducks we could draw and you could choose the one you liked the most. I thought the cinnamon teal duck would be cool; it has a cool sounding name. We looked it up on Google and found a picture of it and put it in different backgrounds. I probably spent about four class periods working on it.
“I was shocked when I found out I won,” said Beaulieu. “As I was creating it, I wasn’t thinking about the contest; I just wanted to make my duck look good. It makes me very happy that I did so well.”
The Junior Duck Stamp Program was first recognized by Congress in 1994 when the Junior Duck Stamp Conservation and Design Program Act was enacted. In 2000, Congress reauthorized the program and expanded it from 17 states to include student participants in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. territories.
