Third graders from Immanuel Lutheran school, Haley, winner of our “Be Creatively You” contest.

One way in which I define success is being able to leave a positive impact on the life of a child. So it was especially rewarding to have partnered with the talented young artist, Cassy Tully for a design contest to encourage the arts in children.  Since the idea was to have children design an outfit for Frankie the Walk ‘N Roll Dog, we also encouraged the children to read about Frankie in her book series, which also then encouraged reading.

Having Cassy, the artist and me, the author come together for this project was one those magical days I will forever cherish and remember.  The super wonderful thing is that Haley, our first place winner, truly wants to be an artist.   Many of her fellow students want to be artists, as well as authors.

Haley and her classmates were treated to a presentation this past Tuesday by Cassy and me, with Cassy talking about how art is made and I talked about how a book is made. The finale was sharing a little bit about Frankie’s story and then having the kids pet her.

The third grade students of Immanuel Lutheran School all went above and beyond in the design of the outfits for Frankie, so in our eyes, they were all winners!