"the People's Paths!" Cherokee News Path - CN Citizen Wins National Poster Contest

***"Michelle Holiman of Maryetta and her art teacher, Sami Lou Smith pose with Michelle’s award-winning poster."***

STILWELL, OK - Michelle Holiman, a fifth-grader at Maryetta Elementary School and a Cherokee citizen, will have her artwork displayed on a national poster.

“I won the Arbor Day Poster Contest,” said Holiman. “This is the first national contest I’ve won.”

Holiman says she got her poster idea from art books and believes that her art teacher, Sami Lou Smith is part of the reason that she won the contest.

“Mrs. Smith is a big help to all of the students,” Holiman said. “I think she helps me to be a better artist.”

The Arbor Day Poster Contest is an artistic competition open to fifth-graders across the nation striving to increase awareness of the important role trees play in the quality of life and environmental health of cities and towns. Over 75,000 classrooms participated in the competition that was sponsored by Toyota. This year’s theme was “Trees are Terrific…Inside and Out!”

Michelle’s artistic ability won her an all-expense paid trip to Nebraska City, Nebraska and a $1,000 dollar savings bond. A $200 dollar prize was also presented to Smith to purchase art supplies.

Maryetta Elementary School and its art teacher, Mrs. Smith, use Cherokee Nation’s Johnson O’Malley (JOM) Program funds to help support the school’s art program. Each year, the students actively participate in several art contests. Many of the students excel on the local, state and national level every year.

The mission of the JOM Program is to address the unique cultural needs of American Indian students attending public schools through a supplemental program of services planned, developed and approved by the local Indian Education Committee.

“I really appreciate the JOM funds,” said Smith. “We are fortunate to have a lot of wonderful artists at Maryetta. I use the funds to purchase art supplies and art books that the students can find inspiration in. We have a lot of Native American students and many of them enjoy drawing and painting subjects that significant to their culture and heritage. I do my best to encourage these endeavors and other areas of art that my students are interested in.”