PACOIMA : Young Students Honored for Art
When pressed to express pride in Pacoima through art, second-grader Javier Zubiran thought of poor people and gang members.
The Haddon School elementary student made a pencil and crayon sketch exhorting gang members to stop writing on walls and urging residents to give food to the hungry.
His creation earned him one of 31 first-place awards and a $100 savings bond in the third annual Pacoima Pride Arts Project, sponsored by TransWorld Bank.
“That is around my house a lot. I see gangsters writing on the freeway a lot where I live,” said Javier, 7, who hopes that his drawing will get them to stop.
Javier was one of several winners on hand Thursday at Van Nuys City Hall to kick off an exhibit--which runs through April--of first- and second-place entries. More than 1,000 children from Haddon, Pacoima and Mary Immaculate elementary schools entered the contest, which had a theme of “How I Can Make a Difference in My Community.”
The artwork featured ideas ranging from planting trees to improving race relations to holding a “Pacoima Better Dayz Picnic.”
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