Competition

Well, another year of competition has come and gone!  It is always a wonderful, but tiring weekend.    I love getting to hear the many songs and speeches as well as look at the wonderful, creative projects!  Burlin has been going with me the last few years.  Although fine arts are not his "forte", he tries to support the children by seeing as many performances as he can.  Sometimes we have to "divide and conquer" as we may have two children scheduled at the same time.  


It seems as if the "tradition" at competition time is for there to be an illness epidemic at school!  This year was no exception.  Anna got sick the week of competition, and she stayed with us in a motel.  Burlin got sick as well, and was pretty miserable the entire time.


Benjamin also had a rough couple of days as he hurt his arm the first night during "gym time".  (Our school stays at another BCSA school nearby.)   I was able to stop at a drug store and buy him a splint, and pain medicine, but he was in a lot of pain!  We were able to get x-rays after returning home, and found out he had sustained a buckle fracture. I think he was thankful to finally get it mobilized and in a cast! 




ART PROJECTS: (students can enter each category, but the school has a limit of how many students per category.)

Anna sewed this really cute dress! It had a few issues along the way, but came out pretty well for her first try! (Unfortunately, it didn't quite fit her!!)

This is Anna's mixed media project.  The judges didn't like it much, but she was real happy with it! I think it is so creative and adorable! I plan to frame this one and put it up somewhere.  

Anna loves to present topics in a shadowbox presentation.  This one started with the theme of depression, but it flowed into the area of addictions, and then portrays Christ as the answer!  Although it created controversy, it won 1st place, and qualified to go to Nationals in Greenville.  

Anna took an oil painting class at Hobby Lobby this year.  I thought she did a great job.  

Abigail loves making jewelry!  She actually had a different pattern in mind when she started (she was following a picture in a magazine),  but the project had to be "original", so she had to completely start over.  She managed to incorporate some of the details from her original pattern, while making it unique.

She won 1st place! 

Abigail also took a class at Hobby Lobby.  Grandma took her for a class last year, and she loved it!  She did quite well, so we took a second class!  She won 1st place!

Abigail's chalk drawing.  It didn't score well, but I thought she did a great job!  

PHOTOGRAPHY: (each student can enter 1 photograph in 2 different categories, but the school  has a limit in each category, so not every photo can be entered.)

Ben loves to look at the moon in the telescope.  He entered this picture (or one like it) in the landscape category.  

Abigail's action picture.  Won 1st place!

Abigail's landscape picture

Anna's landscape picture

Anna's action picture

Our school requires two speeches.  However, Anna's duet acting was dropped because her partner had a death in the family, and he was out of town quite a bit just prior to competition. 

Anna's poetry speech was Little Miss Twiggley.  (This was one of Amber and Anna's favorite books when they were young.)  Ben and Abigail both performed in the dramatic and duet acting categories.  

The only piano performance this year was a sacred duet with Anna and Krissy.  

There are numerous singing opportunities:

• LCA Chorale (required)
• JH Ensemble (required)
• SH Ensemble (required)
• Solo (required)
• duets
• trios
• quartets
• misc. ensembles

There are restrictions as to how many entries a student can have in each music category, so participation varies.

Abigail placed 3rd  in her vocal solo.  She was thrilled as she loves to sing! 

Competition is always an emotional time, filled with excitement in the reward of a job well done, and tears of disappointment!  It is challenging, but rewarding.