Williamson awarded for artwork

Fifth grader Wyatt Williamson, who attends MK-8, was recognized at an award ceremony Monday afternoon for his outstanding hand drawn bookmark. He received a certificate and a letter of congratulation.

Of the 1600 entries this year to Wyoming Agriculture in the Classroom (WAIC), Williamson is one of only 12 students statewide acknowledged for excellence in their artistic concepts of the state's agriculture and natural resources by Wyoming governor Mark Gordon. Williamson's bookmark was sponsored by Superior Livestock Auction.

The assembly also honored anew the Moorcroft winners of this award since 2018, including Karizma Delfino (2018), Pyper Humpal (2019), Ranae Norris (2019) and Stella Walliezer (2020).

The teachers who promoted the project and supported the efforts of these young artists over the last five years, Mandy Connally, Amber Burch and Lori Backen were respectfully remembered as well.

WAIC encourages kids from second, third, fourth and fifth grade to create and submit an original hand drawn bookmark for consideration each year. The students' artwork is published and distributed around the state.

Those who are interested in participating in the Bookmark Program or would like copies of existing bookmarks are encouraged to contact WAIC at http://www.wyaitc.org or at 307-369-1749.

Finally, several teachers who contributed to the realization of the Wyoming Stewardship Project (begun in 2015) were presented with a certificate, a letter from state superintendent Jillian Barlow and a free final project lesson book they helped create. The names of these teachers are Sarah Merchen, Gina Dewey, Jenna Thomas, LaNae Grahan and Mindy Woolsey.

WAIC was started in the 1980s to help students to better understand the origins of their food and other resources.