The Committee for Armenian Students in Public Schools (CASPS) held its annual Art Contest awards reception in the Board Room of the Glendale Unified School District (GUSD) on Friday, December 14, 2018. Present were GUSD Superintendent Dr. Winfred Roberson, GUSD Board member, Mr. Shant Sahakian, CASPS Board members, as well as participating art-contest students and parents.
Mrs. Arsineh Hovannisian, Executive Director of CASPS, introduced Mrs. Annette Zarian, Mistress of Ceremony for the evening. Mrs. Zarian welcomed all present and explained that CASPS had been organized about 25 years ago by a group of Armenian educators to support immigrant students of Armenian descent in the Glendale public schools. She outlined a few of the programs and services provided by CASPS, such as:
- Clinical group counseling in several elementary schools
- Tutoring in middle and high schools
- Leadership Workshop for high school juniors
- Recognition of high-achieving graduates of GUSD
- Art contest for high schools
The art contest is sponsored each year by CASPS and the information is disseminated to high schools by the District. Mrs. Zarian explained that CASPS chooses a thought-provoking theme which is meant to stimulate high school students to think deeply about a particular subject and to express their thoughts, ideas, and emotions creatively through visual art. This year’s theme was “Peace.”
Submitted art work is then evaluated by three judges on artistic merit, creativity, and interpretation of theme, and winners are presented with monetary awards. Our judges this year were: Mrs. Caroline Tufenkian of the Tufenkian Fine Arts Gallery in Glendale, Ms. Jaclyn Scott, principal of Mountain Avenue Elementary School and former head of GUSD’s Visual and Performing Arts department, and Mr. Harry Vorperian, a graphic artist with a variety of works.
Before the awards were presented to students, Mr. Sahakian, on behalf of the Glendale Board of Education, congratulated students and parents for their participation in the contest, and wished them much success in the future.
Certificates of participation were then awarded to all contestants, with 9 contestants receiving monetary awards.
