During this past school year, approximately 40 McMurrary Middle School students participated in Vashon’s Sources of Strength program.
Sources of Strength, which is a national program, is funded in part by the Vashon Schools Foundation and by Vashon Alliance to Reduce Youth Drug Use (VARSA), in partnership with the Vashon Island School District. The goal of the program is to strengthen the community by focusing on eight key areas, said Peggy Rubens-Ellis, who leads the group.
Those eight focus strengths include physical health, mental health, family support, positive friends, mentors, healthy activities, generousity and spirituality.
During the students’ time in Sources of Strength this year, they participated in an art and photography contest that depicted one of the eight strengths that helped them through the pandemic, along with an artist’s statement. The following page include all the students’ work from this year’s contest.
Stella Nackos Artwork Strength: Family I chose to represent the strength of family in my piece by drawing me and my family in cartoon form. They help me through everything and are always there for me.
Sophia Cagle Photo Strength: Healthy Activities I picked this strength because it’s a new strength I recently learned. I did not like reading before COVID.
Sjorren Clemmensen Artwork Strength: Family My parents are quite nice to me compared to many others. This piece shows the difference between going towards a goal with and without parental support.
Morgan Earnst Photo Strength: Generosity I chose generosity because the picture is of the guide dog I trained named Eiffel. The Guide Dog program is a non-profit organization based off of volunteers and donations. I think it’s generous for the puppy trainers, handlers, and puppy sitters to take so much time and dedication on the dogs and it really helps people change their lives for the better.
Mason Hart Artwork Strength: Family My drawing is about me and my family going on a road trip off of Vashon and seeing all the cool stores.
Lucy Woods Artwork Strength: Positive Friends Spending time with my friends has been an essential throughout Covid. I feel like this piece captures some of that feeling of warmth. The glow of the light from the setting sun in the background gives a feeling of magic and opportunity. These elements really help me in life. (Winner of Art Contest)
Dominic Coppolillo Photo Strength: Mentors I think that dozens of babies led by one adult represents mentorship and a fun community.
Annabelle Thompson Artwork Strength: Family This represents all the friends I have and how each friend is different. None of them try to be anything they are not.
Cooper Tantau Photo Strength: Healthy Activities I picked this strength because I do a lot of healthy activities. Most aren’t physically active, but are mentally and emotionally healthy, which can be just as important. The activity of building and painting models like this has always been very satisfying for me. It’s away from any screens and can be relaxing and rewarding. I want to thank my friend Matt, for giving me this model and helping me start this super fun hobby.
Alara Demir Photo Strength: Mental Health/Healthy Activities This was this summer and my brother and I went on a 5 mile bike ride around Burton. We had so much fun and I will never forget this memory. I felt so good after hanging out with him. (Winner of Photography Contest)
Ace Ehlers Artwork Strength: Healthy Activities Through the pandemic I faced a lot of boredom. I’d sit down and wait for something to happen. With clay, I had something to do. My clay piece is a sculpture of my dog’s head. Sometimes you don’t have to go somewhere to have fun. You can just relax and do something that makes you feel nice. Clay works for me–it may be something else for you. Mental Health is important. It took me about three days and I made this at school. I cherished every moment because it was relaxing and fun at school. Nothing for me is that fun at school, so this was a big thing for me.
