THOUSAND OAKS : Students’ Art Wins Awards Around Globe

Inspired by the artwork of gypsy children in the Czech Republic, elementary teacher Terry Street saw a new way to teach her Westlake students about other cultures.

Along with teaching the basic elements of design, Street wanted to give her students at Carden Conejo School of Thousand Oaks a sense of world geography. So for the past two years, she has selected some of her students’ creations and entered them in contests around the globe.

Street’s students have received ample reward for their effort.

Fourteen students in first through fifth grades have won medals or ribbons in contests held in Japan, India and the Czech Republic.

Fifth-graders William Hsu and Caroline Hill received gold medals in the Japanese contest, while fourth-grader Kevin Hames won a silver and third-grader Andrew Wilk and second-grader Jenny Romano won bronze medals. First-grader Geraldine O’Sullivan also won an award.

In the contest held in India, the following students received silver certificates: sixth-grader Nicholas McKay, fifth-grader Christopher Maltese, third-grader Alexandra Kayat and fourth-graders Molly Horan and Renau Rush.

Renau was also one of four students who placed in the Czech contest. Others were third-graders Christopher McKay and Melinda Rodriguez and fifth-grader Ryan Hollbrook.