BUENA PARK : Student’s Art Wins White House Contest

A Centralia School District sixth-grader has won the honor of representing California in an art contest celebrating the 200th anniversary of the setting of the White House cornerstone.

Chris Stoops, 12, a student in the school district’s hearing-impaired program at Raymond Temple School, will take part in the October celebration and is scheduled to meet President Bush.

His entry in the Very Special Arts White House 200th Anniversary Art Exhibition was selected to represent the state and will hang in the White House.

His pencil, tempera and pen drawing--”The White House Long Ago,” complete with a dirt road in front of the building for horse-drawn carriages--was inspired by his interest in White House history, he said.

The school recognized Chris by putting his name on its marquee and announcing his selection over the public address system, said Principal Barbara Sanchez.

“All the kids are excited for him,” she said. “He’s been talking about his upcoming trip to Washington, D.C., in the classrooms. He’s excited. He’s really a nice boy, too. It’s nice to see this happening to him.”

Chris has read several books on the White House and studied a picture of it given to him by an uncle, said his mother, Helen Stoops.

“They had been doing some study on the White House, and he’s interested in Abe Lincoln,” she said. “He draws pictures of stories that they have read, and he’s drawn mini-pictures of fishing and boats down to the details. He gets into some detail on this.”

Chris is enrolled in the hearing-impaired program’s total communication class, in which he learns sign language, lip reading and sounds.

He eventually hopes to attend Gallaudet University, a college for the hearing impaired in Washington, D.C., but has not decided whether to pursue a career in the arts, his mother said.

Four works from each state and territory, including the District of Columbia, were chosen for review by a national jury, and one work from each was selected for the White House exhibition.

The remaining works will be exhibited at museums throughout Washington, including the Smithsonian Institution.

The exhibition is sponsored by the White House Historical Assn. and Very Special Arts, an educational affiliate of the John F. Kennedy School for the Performing Arts, for people with disabilities.