Up against 430 other middle school students in the 18th Judicial
District, one Kiowa sixth-grader’s poster earned her a spot in the
top 14. Audrey Malerich was one of 13 first-place winners in the
10th Annual District Attorney’s Calendar Contest.
Although she was not the grand prize winner, she was the only
sixth-grade first-place winner and she received a $100 gift card to
Borders Book Store. Malerich celebrated her win along with all the
others winners at the banquet on May 6 at the Arapahoe County
Justice Center. The winning artwork will also be used to create a
2010 calendar that will be distributed to more than 10,000
community members in the 18th Judicial District.
The theme for this year’s contest was “A Tip Can Save A Life”
and students were asked to express artistically what those words
meant to them. To Malerich those words mean that a person should
tell an adult if something bad is happening.
“Don’t be quiet about something,” she said. “You need to tell if
you ever see something wrong.”
Malerich used colored pencils to create her poster which
involved a police phone and a cell phone chained together with the
words “Call in for Justice” in the middle. She also drew a sunset
and an American flag flying in the wind in the background.
“My poster idea just kind of popped in my head,” she said. “It
only took me about two hours to do and my art teacher also helped
me a little.”
Makerich’s talent for art first became visible in Girl Scouts
when she was 7 years old. Since then art has become a passion of
hers and a way to express herself.
“Art shows your personality and what you like,” she said. “You
can get more out of art than you can with just words. You are able
to speak for yourself.”
Drawing and designing clothes is a personal favorite of
Malerich, as well as merely doodling on her notebooks. But she
definitely likes to use color, especially green, aqua, purple and
yellow which are her favorites.
The sixth-grader’s artistic talents does not stop with drawing.
Malerich also sings and does gymnastics and is quite flexible.
“I can put my legs behind my head, do the splits and kick my leg
really high and hold it there,” she said.
Malerich plans to spend her summer vacation busy with 4-H
projects. She is involved in cake decorating, leather crafting,
cooking and decorate your duds where she plans on decorating some
jeans or a shirt.
“I really like blingy stuff so will make some blingy jeans or a
blingy shirt,” she said.
