Students’ posters promote attendance slogan

The Hollister School District recognized winners of a student art contest last week for illustrations of the attendance slogan: “Beat the Bell.”
Attendance numbers influence the amount of money a district receives from the state, since funding calculations take into account Average Daily Attendance, or the amount of time students spend in class. Students were recognized during the April 26 board meeting.
More than 130 students participated in the “Beat the Bell” Art Contest. Winners took home a $50 gift card, according to background information in the agenda packet for the April 26 board meeting.
“About a month ago, this flyer went out to all our students encouraging them to put their creativity to work designing some art that we needed and we wanted for posters that are going into every school office in the fall,” said Elvia Teixeira, the district’s coordinator of parent involvement and attendance.
A student winner was selected for TK-1, 2-3 graders, 4-5 graders, sixth graders, seventh graders and eighth graders, according to the presentation.
“These posters are going to have pretty dry information about attendance, so we needed the students in our district to help bring these posters alive with their beautiful artwork,” Teixeira said. “So today, we are going to take a look at some of the beautiful creations by our students.”
The students displayed different understandings of the district’s message. Anahi Grijalba, a transitional kindergarten student, created a drawing with its own addition to the district slogan: “Beat the Bell so we can play together.” Drawings from older students incorporated the ideas of time, clocks and earliness.