School & Family Magazine Newstand Denton ISD Winter 2018 | Página 12

Brady Fleitman, from Houston Elementary, was the district’s overall 1st place winner in the 2017-18 Adopt-A-School Art Contest. Celebrating with him
are Mario Zavala, Director of Communications & Community Relations for Denton ISD; Nathan Stafford, Branch Manager UMB Bank; Beena Momin,
Owner of Mathnasium of Denton; Kathleen Schaefer, Manager of Barnes & Noble; Lindsey Dykes, Art Teacher and Gennifer Smith, Assistant Principal.
MASCOT MAGIC
Story and photos by Courtney Martin
Adopt-a-School contests celebrate exceptional writers, artists
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, no it’s…a flying
bulldog?  For many of Denton Independent
School District’s fourth and fifth-graders, their
imaginations took flight as they skillfully tried
to capture what the world
would look like if their
school mascots became a
superhero for the day.  
For the past 12 years,
the district’s Adopt-A-
School program has
hosted the annual art
and essay contest.  Each
year, partners select a
theme with the hopes of
providing a bit of fun and
competition, along with
STAAR (State of Texas Assessments of Academic
Readiness) test preparation.  The contest helps
students make their ideas come to life through
their creativity in both word and color through
their essays and artwork.  
Assisted by their campus business and
12
community partners, each campus selects the
top three students for each category.  In early
November, winners were chosen and each
were su rprised by district administrators and
business representatives
at their campuses in
with trophies for their
accomplishments.
“I’ve never received a
trophy before for anything,”
said Cole Loper, fourth
grader at Lee Elementary
School with a huge smile
across his face.
First place winners
representing each campus
were recognized in early December for their
accomplishments during two events where all
of the first-place artwork was on display.  
During one presentation Beena Momin, owner
of Mathnasium - Denton, commented, “It is
an amazing and a prideful experience to be