Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot likes to give out awards. On his own dime he has created several unique awards and goes around the state handing them out. His latest has a two-fold purpose: to honor art students but also to brighten up the halls of his office in Annapolis with displays of the winners.
Franchot was in St. Mary’s County on Thursday to hand out awards to three St. Mary’s County Public School students and to show off their art. He has dubbed the program the Maryland Masters Awards. The awardees are:
· Avery Kent, a fourth grader at Evergreen Elementary School, whose still life was inspired by Vincent van Gough’s sunflower paintings
· Taylor Bahen, a seventh grader of Margaret Brent Middle School, who did a one-point perspective of a medieval village; and
· Jessica Burroughs, a senior at Chopticon High School, who painted a large-scale self-portrait using primary colors to create form through layers of different values of color.
Franchot said during the ceremony that there is a lot of talk about the need for technology education. But he added, “The future of the state is going to require a marriage of technology, which we all hear about, and creativity.” He said business leaders have told him that they can train the technology part but “what we need is content and creativity.”
At the ceremony School Superintendent Dr. Michael Martirano praised Franchot, who as a member of the Board of Public Works is one of the three votes necessary to approve school construction projects. “Throughout his career he has been a strong advocate for education,” the superintendent noted.
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