Four Ritenour Students Earn Blue Ribbons in Saint Louis Symphony's Picture the Music Competition
Four Ritenour elementary students received blue ribbons for being among the top 25 young artists for their powerful and creative artwork in the 2024-2025 Saint Louis Symphony's Picture the Music competition. They are:
Isabella Bucio, Marvin Elementary fifth-grader, for her piece titled, “The New Fire Fiesta”
Madalynne Dury, Iveland Elementary first grader, for her art titled, “The Princess Ballerinas”
Eliza McNiff, Marvin Elementary fifth-grader for her piece titled, “Riding the Flaming Roller Coaster”
Penelope Vaughn, Marvin Elementary fifth-grader for her art titled, “The Sunburst Orchestra”
These four Ritenour students as well as eight others from Marvin and Iveland, were among the top 100 K-6 students in the St. Louis metro area in this competition who were honored on April 12 at the Missouri Botanical Gardens.
The students’ outstanding artwork is displayed at the Saint Louis Art Museum through April 27 and then will be exhibited at the Magic House April 29-May 11, 2025.
This year’s competition challenged students to create artwork that captured the essence of Conga del Fuego Nuevo by Arturo Márquez. Marvin Elementary art teacher Alan Kmetz and Iveland Elementary art teacher Mary O'Brien both have enjoyed having K-5 students create art for the Picture the Music competition because it allows students to connect beautiful music to their artwork.
Out of more than 400 pieces of art submitted from K-6 students in the St. Louis metro area, artwork by the other Iveland and Marvin students in the top 100 are:
- Iveland Elementary honorees: Alexa Gavarette Garcia, third grade; Isabella Inglish, third grade; Aliyah McCarty, fourth grade; Avaya Montemayor, third grade
- Marvin Elementary honorees: Fifth-graders Yadier Bravo Gonzalez, Margarita Garcia, Elsa Gilman and Melanie Posadas