Taking It To The Classroom
OASIS Awards Space Art Contest Winners

by Kat Tanaka

The grinding of gears and the humming of electric motors heralded Marvin the Martian's arrival aboard OASIS' Mars Pathfinder rover for the Space Art Contest awards ceremony on April 2. Contest organizer and Odyssey editor Kat Tanaka, along with chapter president Steve Bartlett, visited Elsie Shigeta-Perra's fifth-grade class at Alta Vista Elementary School in Redondo Beach to hand out the prizes to the winners and talk about space with the students.

Mrs. Shigeta-Perra and contest winners Alec Kerry, Kyle Boyd Brown, and Sagar Salanki along with OASIS President Steve Bartlett and the rover models.

Kyle Boyd Brown took home the first place certificate for Best Concept for his entry "Marrigacorus", along with a check for $50 and a year's OASIS membership. Devon Nicole Norris, who won Best Artistic Execution for her piece "Littlest Dolphin and Biggest Dolphin", was not present but will receive her prizes later. The second place winner for Concept was Alec Kerry for his drawing "Titanica", a starry rendering of the ill-fated cruise ship. Taking an inspiration from heroes of old, Sagar Salanki won second place for Execution for his work "Warrior Night".

Each student in the contest received a personalized message on his or her work from contest judge Chris Butler, as well as a copy of the March issue of the Odyssey.

Following the awards ceremony, the students participated in a lively Q&A on a variety of space topics, including Shuttle safety, lunar and Mars exploration, how rovers are controlled from Earth, and life in the Solar System. Chapter leaders brought along the one-quarter scale model of the Mars Exploration Rover to illustrate how the rover was carried to the Red Planet and how it landed and deployed its different sections into the working configuration.

Marvin the Martian then re-boarded the model of the Pathfinder rover and the class trooped outside to watch him put the radio-controlled explorer through its paces at high speed.

OASIS extends its thanks to both Mrs. Shigeta-Perra and the staff of Alta Vista for the opportunity to meet with the students there.

See the Gallery images of the first place entries and the March Odyssey for more about the art contest.

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