Rochester Students Dominate State-wide Art Competition
By Martha Slater

Rochester School’s art teacher Cynthia McPhetres was thrilled to report this week that eight of the nine state-wide winners in this year’s Vermont Agency of Transportation’s aviation art calendar contest are students at the Rochester School.

Twenty-two schools from around the state participated in this year’s contest, with 109 pieces of student artwork submitted.

"This year the theme was airfields," McPhetres said. "I printed off tons of internet photos, with Bill Zucca’s help, and took out books on airplanes. We talked about what terminals are, air strips, airplanes that could be seen, how they would look from below, above, from a building, bird’s eye view, where airfields would be located, etc."

Entries in each age group were judged and the winning entries sent to Washington, D.C. to be entered in the national competition. Those winners will be entered in a worldwide competition in Vienna, Austria. The international contest is sponsored by National Aeronautic Assoc., National Association of State Aviation officials, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and Federal Aviation Administration in co-operation with the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) to motivate young people to be familiar with aeronautics, engineering, and science.

Statewide Winners

Ages 6-9: first place, Kade Brilmayer of Rochester; second place, Andrew Borden of Pittsfield; and third place, Sara Domas of Rochester.

Ages 10-13: first place, Taylor Benson of Stockbridge; second place, Kierstan Merrill of Rochester; and third place, Cody Brouillard of Rochester.

Ages 14-17: first place, Christian Buck of Waterbury Center (a student at the Vermont Commons School); second place, Ethan White of Rochester; and third place, Daley Crowley of Rochester.

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