Sections: Reflections Overview | Info for Reflections Chairs | Submission Guidelines | Past Winners

Thank you for chairing the Reflections Art Program at your school! Being a Reflections Chair is one of the most rewarding and energizing PTA jobs because you get to work directly with the kids in your school and see first-hand some of the wonderful artwork that they produce. Here is some information to help you run a successful Reflections program at your school. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact Contessa Messiana, 17th District Reflections Program Chair.

Timeline of Reflections Events and Activity Suggestions

• May/June: Get a head start promoting Reflections for the next school year! Share the information with your school’s faculty and encourage them to make it part of their curriculum in the fall. Encourage students to start working on their art projects during the summer; after all, summer is when people have free time.
• September: Kick off Reflections at your school and in your PTA! Hand out the Reflections packet to students and hold workshops for participants. Promote Reflections to students, parents, and teachers with flyers. Ask teachers to encourage students to participate, or make doing a Reflections art project part of their curriculum.
  Council Chairs: Promote Reflections to the units in your council! Provide assistance to unit Reflections chairs, and offer to make presentations about Reflections at unit PTA meetings.
• October: Students should be busy preparing their artwork for entry. Consider holding workshops for students to create entries. Line up judges and start preparing for a way to showcase submitted entries.
• Late October/Early November: The submission deadline for PTA units (schools) should be around here to provide sufficient time for judging prior to council/district deadlines.
• November: Judge the entries (see “Judging” below), and plan to showcase all of the entries and recognize the students.
• Late November, TBA: In-council units need to submit entries to be forwarded to their council chair on this date.
• Friday, December 11, 2009: Out-of-council units need to submit entries to be forwarded to the 17th District chair by this date. Council chairs need to submit all entries received to the 17th District chair.
• February: Reflections winners at the 17th District level will be announced; “Outstanding Interpretation of Theme” winners will be forwarded on to California State PTA. All students participating at the district level will be sent a certificate of participation and an invitation to the Reflections Art Exhibit in March.
• March: 17th District Reflections Art Exhibit will be held. Reflections winners at the California State level will be announced; “Award of Excellence” winners will be forwarded on to National PTA.
• April 29-May 2, 2010: California State PTA Convention in Sacramento. Reflections winners at the California State level will be on display, and “Award of Excellence” winners will be recognized on stage at Convention. Literature award winners will read their entry on stage, and Music Composition award winners will perform their entry on stage. Travel/hotel expenses will be reimbursed by State PTA. Reflections winners at the National level will be announced at Convention or immediately following Convention.
• June 10-13, 2010: National PTA Convention in Memphis, TN. Reflections winners at the National level will be on display, and “Award of Excellence” winners will be recognized on stage at Convention.

Resources

• Read and be familiar with the Reflections Program Chair Job Description [PDF, Page 421].
• The 2008 Reflections Packet [PDF] (available in Spanish/disponible en español [PDF]) contains an overview of the Reflections program, rules/guidelines for each category, entry forms, and flyers that you can distribute. These can also be downloaded individually from the State PTA website.
• The California State PTA Store has numerous items available for purchase to help you recognize student participants.

Submitting Reflections Entries On to Council/17th District

The top three submissions per art category per grade division (recognized with Outstanding Interpretation of Theme, Award of Excellence, and Award of Merit awards) will be submitted to the district level of competition. Although you can give out as many Honorable Mentions as you would like, they should not be forwarded.

Please be sure that each entry is accompanied by a complete entry form. Please note that the Artist Statement is required for all students in all categories and grade divisions. Make sure that the top of the entry form lists District #17 and the name of your council (if in council), and that the bottom box of each entry form is complete with your unit PTA information. Regarding the “good standing status” section: You may leave the section for “insurance” blank since the insurance due date is after the Reflections submission date; 17th District will fill this in. As a reminder, though, your PTA must pay it’s 15 member minimum per capita by the November due date AND pay it’s insurance fees by the January due date in order to remain in good standing. Reflections entries from units not in good standing are disqualified.

Please make sure that entries have met the submission guidelines, in particular these submission guidelines.

Unit (School) Reflections Chairs: Fill out a Unit Reflections Form A [fillable PDF]. The top box of this form requests information about every participant in your school, and the bottom box only pertains to the entries that you are actually forwarding to council/district. Include this form with all of the entries that you are forwarding (preferably in a portfolio). In-council units should submit the entries and forms to their council by their due date, typically in late November. Out-of-council units should submit them to Contessa Messiana, 17th District Reflections Chair on Friday, December 4. (Is my unit in or out of council?)

Council Reflections Chairs: You should establish a date for unit Reflections Chairs in your council to submit their forwarded entries to you. It is recommended that you receive these at your house at a designated time, as there have been instances in the past where entries were lost between getting dropped off somewhere and picked up again.
Review the submitted artwork from your units to verify that they meet the guidelines. Fill out a Council Reflections Form A [fillable PDF], which asks you to add up the information from all of the Form As from your units. Please also attach each of the Form As from your units to this Council Form A. Submit all of the entries and forms to Contessa Messiana, 17th District Reflections Chair on Friday, December 4.