WESTMINSTER : Contest Stresses Art of Being Responsible

Hurriedly scraping a piece of orange chalk on the sidewalk, Devon Richards helped put the finishing touches on a comic strip featuring a hungry cat in search of a mouse.

Then, as the school bell rang, signaling the end of the drawing contest, the 13-year-old and her four friends stood back and admired their handiwork.

“Go with the basics first and go for the details later,” Devon said, offering her tip for getting everything done within the 15-minute time limit.

Devon and her friends were one of 20 teams at McGarvin Intermediate School that competed Wednesday in a sidewalk art contest designed to emphasize responsible behavior. The theme of the contest, which was held as part of yearlong program that encourages good decision-making, was “stop, think, act and review.”

Devon’s team drew “The Adventures of Felix the Cat,” a five-panel comic strip that showed Felix with an empty stomach and no mice to be found. In the end, the feline makes a mouse out of paper and paste, eats it and lives happily ever after.

Jonielle Schmidt, 14, a seventh-grader, said the drawing fit the theme because it showed Felix using creativity to solve a problem.

Devon, also in the seventh grade, said she enjoyed the contest, although her team did not win. “It’s fun--and hard,” she said.

The contest was won by another team of seventh-graders: Dung Huynh, 13; Loc Nguyen, 12; Marsh Linquist, 12, and Cristobal Cugliari, 12. Their drawing showed the Earth and stars and offered such advice as “Be polite,” “Be responsible,” and “Be determined.”

Dung said that when his drawing was announced over the loudspeaker as the winner, “I was excited to win. I jumped up in class and went, ‘Yes!’

“The program is good,” and other schools should hold similar competitions because they are exciting and encourage students to participate and be creative, he said. “I love to do this.”