WESTMINSTER : Students Chalk It Up to Success

Thirteen-year-old Paul Marshman plays the oboe in a school band of mostly clarinet players. He says he loves being different. He wants to do most things his own way.

But Thursday, Marshman showed he could also be a team player. His idea of a rabbit trying to reach for a carrot atop a mountain became the inspiration for the winning drawing at McGarvin Intermediate School’s sidewalk art competition.

Five-member teams of seventh- and eighth-graders participated in the art contest. They turned the school quadrangle into an impromptu art gallery, making chalk drawings on the pavement to portray setting goals, solving problems and succeeding in life.

“We wanted the kids to come together and work as a team,” said school counselor Lynn Buckley, who organized the art competition as an annual event last year as part of a program to teach students how to succeed in life.

The program, “How to Be Successful in Less Than 10 Minutes a Day,” also seeks to teach students basic skills to live and work well with other people, Buckley said. She said the competition allowed the students to show what they have learned in a creative way.

Their 4-foot-square illustrations had such titles as “Be Confident,” “Be a Doer” and “Be a Risk Taker,” and were associated with spring.

“It just popped in my mind,” Marshman said of his team’s drawing, which was picked by a panel of seven judges as best among entries from seventh-graders. He credited his teammates, however, for turning a “corny” idea to a “pretty good” work of art.

With Marshman on the team were Alex Hogan, Christina Tran, Jacklyn Valdez and Orlando Cisneros. The team was selected from the 15 students attending beginning band class, according to music teacher Lucy Ewell.

The math class of Greg Percy topped the eighth-grade competition with a drawing of a basketball player shooting over a defender labeled “Fear.”

Julie Linares said she got the idea from a television show, but the catchy caption, “If you miss your goal, catch the rebound and try again,” was put together by her group. Cau Uyen and Donald Yee did most of the drawing. The other members of the team were Melissa Watanabe and Scott Monroe.

Twenty-one teams took part in the competition, according to Buckley, the school counselor. The entries were judged on quality of drawing and inspirational value, she said. The winners received prizes donated by local businesses.

McGarvin Intermediate School is in the Garden Grove Unified School District and serves students from Westminster, Garden Grove, Fountain Valley and Santa Ana.