Maine Scholar Leader Dinner
This post was written by and photographs taken by Lisa Gilman, art teacher from Winthrop Middle School.
Attending the Maine Association for Middle Level Education (MAMLE) conference every Fall gives me a morale boost about working with middle school students. At one of the conferences I learned about the Maine Scholar Leader Dinner. The event happens annually each Spring and Maine middle schools are invited to send two students for recognition. I learned that the two students contend for the one table favor. In a moment of sentiment, I offered to make pottery for each of the 80 students. That was two years ago and 160 pots later.
Seeing all the work has generated interest from students in my own school. They want to know how they can get this coveted recognition. This year, on the next day after the banquet, the students representing my school let me know how thrilled they were about the recognition. They couldn’t wait to tell me which color pottery they had taken home.
I throw all the pottery and my middle school students glaze them. After the work is glazed I use a glaze pen and write the words, “Laugh, Dream, Create, Imagine” on each piece. I include a card with a poem with the following for each student.
Laugh today
Dream for tomorrow
Create without worry
Imagine your possibilities
me arts ed 