The Art Olympic team from West Pine Middle School placed first in the Arts Richmond Art Olympic Competition held at Rockingham Junior High School in Rockingham on Saturday, Feb. 10. This is the ninth consecutive win for West Pine.

At competition students are responsible for participating in two events from various art processes including drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, etching, commercial art and folk arts. Students pre-select these events prior to competition; however, they must create and complete each event from start to finish in 90 minutes while at competition. There can be up to 24 competitors in each event. The artworks from each of the events are judged based on prioritized criteria supplied to each of the participants. Only the top 10 art pieces receive points in each event.

West Pine's team of 23 students had 19 out of 23 to place in both of their events, and everyone placed in at least one of their events. There were 8 students who placed first in their events. They were eighth-grader Ian Paran-Etching; seventh-graders Laura Ott-Etching, Michael Bell, Figure Drawing and Susan Albert, sculpture, mask; sixth-graders Kara Zoellner, sculpture, mask; sixth-grader Jake Harbeck, figure drawing sixth-grader Julianne Gant, drawing, oil pastels; and sixth-grader Miranda Allen, printmaking. Seventh-grader Susan Albert was awarded the school's highest score award with 1,900 points out of a possible 2,000.

The 2007 West Pine Art Olympic Team truly showed "Excellence in the Arts" by having a 3,500-point increase from the previous year. Michelle Morris, West Pine's art teacher, serves as the coach.

At this year's competition there were five counties represented: Johnston, Moore, Scotland, Stanly and Richmond. There were a total of 27 events and 16 teams at the competition.

To learn more about Art Olympics and see examples of student work, contact Arts Richmond or visit Morris' Web site http://www.mcs.k12.nc.us/. From this site click Schools/West Pine/Classrooms/Encore/Ms. Morris/Art Olympics.