Red Bank Regional art teacher Barbara Beckett (back row, left) is pictured with some of the sixteen RBR students who were among the winners of the 2015 Monmouth Day Care Journal Art Contest. Shown in the back row next to Ms. Beckett are Michael Eulner, Shrewsbury; Morgan McIntyre, Little Silver, and Bryan Aparicio. Left to right in the front row are Kelly Farley, Little Silver; Tiaunna Macon, Neptune City (grand prize winner in the high school category), and Lauren Bevacqua, Shrewsbury.

Press release from Red Bank Regional High School

Tiaunna Macon of Neptune City, a freshmen at Red Bank Regional High School, was the grand prize winner in the high school category for the Monmouth Day Care (MDC) Journal Art contest. Her art submission will appear as the ad for NJ Natural Gas inside this year’s MDC art journal, a major fundraiser for the non-profit day-center in Red Bank.

In addition to Tiaunna, the other two grand prize winners were third grader Madelyn Sanchez-Berr of Red Bank Primary School (primary school category), and seventh grader Troy Hill of St. James Elementary School (middle school category). All three grand prize winners were photographed by Danny Sanchez and pictured in the journal.

Fifteen other RBR art students also had their art selected as sponsor ads for the journal. They are freshmen Emily Clarke, Michael Eulner, Kelly Farley, Katherine Feldkamp, Peter Gibbons, Anna Hernandez, Kelsey Larkin, Morgan McIntyre, Jessica Ortega, and Miguel Rivas; sophomores Bryan Aparicio, Lauren Bevacqua, Edgar Romero, and Jonah Rosen; and senior AJ Forgione.

In all, 65 advertisers support the journal. Art work was selected to represent each sponsor from over 1,000 submissions from 13 Monmouth County schools, with RBR boasting the most winning entries than any other school.

“I am delighted to have our students participate in such a great cause to help keep day-care costs down for parents in need,” states Barbara Becket. The RBR art teacher has had her students participate in this art contest for many years, with the 2015 contest yielding the highest number of winners to date. She approaches it as a real-life exercise in advertising; creating commercial art for a client by incorporating previously learned design and composition from class lessons.