Youth Award Winners 2017 – 2018

The Bar Harbor Garden Club, a member of the Garden Club Federation of Maine, has announced the State, Regional and National Youth Award winners during a recent state garden club convention.

The National Garden Clubs and their affiliate organizations offer educational contests for children at the pre-school, elementary, middle and high school levels. The First-Place winners of the Bar Harbor Garden Club (BHGC) competitions went on to compete within the Garden Club Federation of Maine (GCFM), New England Region (NER) and National Garden Clubs, Inc. (NGC).

Taylor Ehrlich won BHGC, state & regional First-Place awards (4th grade) and tied for the national First-Place award for her poetry entry. Taylor is a student at the Community School of Mount Desert (Bethany Anderson was Taylor’s teacher) and will enter fifth grade in September. Brody Fronczak won BHGC & state First-Place awards (1st grade) for his poetry entry. BHGC First-Place Honors were awarded to Sara Thurston. Brody and Sara are 1st grade students at Trenton Elementary.

In the national Youth Sculpture Contest, Shepperd Brown won BHGC, state & regional First-Place awards (6th grade), and an Honorable Mention at the national level. Shepperd is a student at Mount Desert Elementary (Carol Shutt was Shepperd’s teacher).

The BHGC also supports the efforts of the NGC and U.S. Forest Service to promote fire prevention and conservation principles through the sponsorship of the Smokey Bear and Woodsy Owl Poster Contests. The BHGC and state First-Place poster awards (3rd grade) were presented to Grady Ames. Grady is a student at Pemetic Elementary (Robin Sattler was Grady’s teacher) in Southwest Harbor.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE WINNERS!
—BHGC Youth Activities, Co-Chairs are Pam Bowie and Cheryl Bowers.

FIRST-PLACE (1st grade) POETRY WINNER OF BHGC & GCFM. Brody Fronczak is a student at Trenton Elementary.

BHGC FIRST-PLACE (1st grade) POETRY HONORS. Sara Thurston is a student at Trenton Elementary.

Winning Poems FIRST-PLACE (4th grade) POETRY WINNER OF BHGC, GCFM, NER & NGC. Taylor Ehrlich (a student at the Community School of Mount Desert) tied for the First-Place national poetry award. National Poetry Contest Winner The Way Life Should Be Guide me through a magical place, Where dreams come alive and where everyone is a grace. Where none destroy and all grow, They water and care with a rake and a hoe. Who dream of daisies, skies of blue, That follow the path, to me and you. —By Taylor Ehrlich, 4th Grade Peaches My Dad and my Mama Were trying to grow peaches. But a moose was eating them. They didn’t like it. They kept watering the peach tree. We didn’t get any peaches. —By Brody Fronczak, 1st Grade My Raspberry Bush I like the charming taste of my raspberries. They make me smile when I taste them. I really love when my raspberry bush grows. —By Sara Thurston, 1st Grade

FIRST-PLACE (6th grade) YOUTH SCULPTURE AWARDS OF BHGC, GCFM & NER. Shepperd Brown also received an Honorable Mention at the national level.

DESCRIPTION OF WINNING SCULPTURE
Nature is living and surrounds us. It can be the smallest plant or the largest creature. It can also be a peacefulness of silence. Silence is what existed from the beginning of time. One star, nothing before it, became something. Then came planets: big planets, small planets, planets that grew with time. Silence with the course of time. The silence breaks with a force of energy. Now nature unfolds patiently and gracefully.
—By Shepperd Brown

PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF THE BAR HARBOR GARDEN CLUB.