Three Palisadians were among the 16 students, out of 65,000 initial entries from California, whose work in the arts was sent to the PTA National Reflections contest. Students entered the PTA’s Reflections in four categories’literature, musical composition, photography, and visual arts’in four grade divisions, primary (preschool-grade 2), intermediate (grades 3-5), middle/junior (grades 6-8) and senior (grades 9-12). Sixteen exceptional California students not only received Awards of Excellence on the state level, but were sent on to the National Reflections program for judging in May. The three Palisadians are Zoe Arrastia-Prince, a third grader from Palisades Elementary; Taylor Savage, an eighth grader at Paul Revere Middle School; and Lucy Schwartz, a freshman at Palisades Charter High School. Their work was inspired by the 2004-2005 theme, ‘A Different Kind of Hero.’ All three were honored at the State PTA Convention in Sacramento on April 30. Zoe’s work, entitled ‘Breeze,’ won in the intermediate division, visual arts section. She took pictures of trees from New Zealand and the Palisades and cut them, then put them back together to form a collage tree. Zoe has participated every year in Reflections. Not only did she receive the award of excellence, which is the highest rating possible, but she was surprised when principal Tami Weiser announced to the entire student body during assembly that her work had been judged as one of the best on the state level and was being forwarded onto national judging. ”Taking the award of excellence in the middle/junior level in musical composition was Taylor Savage. He wrote a four-minute orchestral composition: a semi-patriotic piece titled ‘Eagle.’ He feels that an eagle would be a ‘Different Kind of Hero’ because it represents noble values. When he started to compose he was looking for instrumentation that would begin quietly and then get louder and more soaring and heroic. Taylor started playing the piano when he was 5 years old and took up the trumpet when he was 9. Currently, he’s in the Advanced Band at Paul Revere. Orchestra and band teachers Lara Jacques and Kristina Gee were so enthusiastic about Taylor’s entry that they had the school’s symphony orchestra rehearse and perform it, so it could be recorded for the National PTA Convention. ‘I wished to express and write my own music, not just play that of other composers,’ said Taylor, who added that when he sat down, he simply started writing and the piece came together. ”When Lucy Schwartz was in fourth grade at Palisades Elementary, her musical composition won the national Reflections contest. As a ninth grader at Palisades High School, she once again finds herself in the position where that might be possible. Lucy’s song ‘On Our Way’ was inspired by the characters in the movie ‘Chocolat.’ The wandering spirits and gypsies are searching and creating new beginnings, which embody human longing. It seemed to Lucy as if they were a ‘Different Kind of Hero.’ Lucy started piano lessons when she was 5 or 6, and credits her music teacher Kia Colton for teaching her to improvise on the piano. At a recital two years ago several of Kia’s students played the songs with lyrics they had written, and Lucy was so inspired that she went home and wrote her first song with lyrics. She hopes to pursue the arts after high school, either in music or theater. ”This isn’t the first time that students from the Palisades were recognized on a national level. In 2003, Sean Friar from Palisades High School was recognized as one of the top four in the nation for his musical composition ‘Signs of Courage: Departing Home.’
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