LaredoBuzz.Com

Courtesy Veronica Cantu,

(Laredo, Texas)-Smiling for all the camera flashes with board members, her teachers and parents, Natalie Martinez, third grade student at Clark Elementary, stood next to her winning artwork at the November 20 board meeting of the Teacher Retirement System of Texas. 

Natalie won first place for her drawing of her teacher, Mrs. Lisa Marie Garcia, as a pencil-wielding masked superhero painted with acrylics on poster board for the agency’s “My Superhero Teacher” Statewide Art Contest.

This year, TRS asked Texas school children from kinder to 5th grades to submit artwork depicting their superhero teachers. The results were beyond the agency’s wildest expectations.

“We thought we would receive a few dozen entries, possibly hundreds if we were really lucky,” recalls Communications Manager Rhonda Price. “Instead, right before the deadline, we suddenly had mounds of mail.”

Stacks of manila packages, boxes, poster tubes and envelopes arrived twice a day at the agency at the end of September.

“Whole schools sent us entries,” said contest coordinator Amber Conrad. “My office is pretty small, but I found space to stack the crates of mail we received those last two days of the contest. And then there was email. I received a message every 30 seconds that, in all, delivered dozens of new entries as the contest deadline neared.”

In all, TRS received more than 3,500 entries from 181 schools across the state. An internal committee narrowed the entries to the top 50 so as not to overwhelm Facebook voters.

The 50 selected entries were posted to Facebook. With 29,301 views to the contest page, Facebook users narrowed down the entries to the 10 most popular, which were then sent to TRS Executive Director Brian Guthrie for final placement.

“I was amazed at how good these drawings were,” Guthrie said. “Honestly, every one of these entries could have won.”

Natalie’s winning artwork will be featured in the TRS Annual Report, a major publication sent out to all members.