You have promoted Reflections and shared your due date with your school community. Some of you may even be receiving artwork!

So now what? Now it's time to submit artwork to Council! Deadline to submit is 9PM on Friday, December 3rd.

Check out our Step-by-Step Guide to Submitting Your PTA's Reflections Entries to Council below. For questions or help with your submissions, please contact Jasmine Lee Fry at reflections@northshorecouncilptsa.org.

1. Make sure you have registered your Local PTA Reflections Program with the National PTA.
2. Make sure the signature lines on all entry forms are filled in. Names can be signed or typed.
3. Take any necessary digital photos of visual arts pieces or work with families to get photos. Please check the rules to ensure the pieces are compliant.
4. Arrange for blind judging as necessary. Click here to read more on judging Reflections.
5. Determine the artwork you will be submitting to Council. Each local PTA can submit up to 20 pieces (+ up to 6 special artist pieces) to Council.
6. Each PTA has its own Dropbox folder. A link will be emailed to Reflections chairs and PTA presidents by Monday, November 15th. Once you have access to the folder, please upload a test file so we have time to troubleshoot any issues you may encounter.
7. Inside your folder you will see:
   • Directions -- Please read this document before submitting.
   • Spreadsheet -- You will fill in some information needed to coordinate judging and to advance pieces to WSPTA. All of the information you need should be on the entry forms.
8. Upload/copy/drag student art piece and entry form to the Dropbox folder. You should be submitting two files per student entry. The exception will be Music Composition entries that require notation; those entries will have three files (This is only for middle and high school divisions).
9. Please rename the files to match this format: Student First Name and Last Name - Arts Category - Form/Artwork/Notation (notation is only used for 6-12th Music Composition entries). This will help us make sure the hundreds of pieces of art we receive can be matched to an entry form.
   1. Example 1: Jasmine Fry - Literature - Form
   2. Example 2: Jasmine Fry - Literature - Artwork
10. When you have added all of the artwork and entry forms to your Dropbox, please email reflections@northshorecouncilptsa.org and let us know you are done and how many pieces you are submitting, so we can verify that we have matching numbers.
11. Feel free to submit your artwork early! After 9PM on Friday, December 3rd, access will be restricted to the Reflections Dropbox folders.

For more information about Reflections, including entry forms and rules, visit our Reflections page.

Council is hosting two (2) Roundtables focusing on Reflections!

​Join us for one or both of these roundtables which are designed to support our local PTA/PTSA leaders with any questions they may have about the 2021-2022 Reflections Program. 

The theme search for the 2023-2024 Reflections arts program is underway! Students are encouraged to submit theme ideas that spark fun and creativity! In response to the winning theme, students from Pre-K through 12th grade will create original works of art in one or all the available arts categories: Dance Choreography, Film Production, Literature, Music Composition, Photography, Visual Arts.​

The student who submits the winning entry will receive a $100 prize from National PTA. Past themes and duplicate submissions will not be considered. Submissions must by received via email by Nov. 1, 2021.

Click here to for a list of past themes. Submit your entry using the NEW online Theme Search form.
Questions? Email ptaprogdir@wastatepta.org.

The Reflections Program is a National PTA and WSPTA cultural arts competition. The purpose is to provide an opportunity for students to use their creative talents by expressing themselves through their own original works for the theme of "I Will Change the World By...".

Reflections is so much more than "just an art contest."  It helps kids take risks, be inspired, think creatively, receive positive recognition and be celebrated for their works of art.  It also allows our community to celebrate our students' creativity!
Encourage art by offering Reflections at your PTA!

Council is here to help make it easy! Check out our Reflections page for regular updates and links to the student entry form and rules (available in English and Spanish), join the Northshore Council PTSA Reflections and Art Docent Chairs Facebook group and be sure to sign up for our "almost weekly" Reflections communications.

Dates to Note:

• December 3, 2021 - Council's Online Turn In Date
• January 2022 - Council Celebration Open House

Please stay tuned for more information on submitting entries to Council and our Celebration Open House that will follow district and county public health requirements.

Questions? Contact Council's Reflections Chair, Jasmine Lee Fry.

National PTA has announced the results of the 2020-2021 PTA Reflections!
Click here to see a full list of results from National PTA.

Council would like to extend a special congratulations to the following two (2) students from Northshore who both received an Award of Excellence from National PTA for their Reflections submissions:

• Amelie Fry - Visual Arts - Innovation Lab High School
• Owen Lorusso - Music Composition - Maywood Hills Elementary

You can check out their submissions and all the other amazing Northshore Artists on our Virtual Showcase website through June 18th, 2021.

Congratulations to the 30 Northshore PTAs/PTSAs that participated in this year's Reflections program and to the artists who made it to Council-level judging!! It was fun celebrating you all on our 2020-2021 Reflections Virtual Art Showcase website where we displayed 229 pieces of artwork! We hope you were able to share this with friends and family! The Virtual Art Showcase will be available until March 31st, 2021 for viewing.

Judging Results: There were 55 State Qualifiers (SQ) who continued on to Washington State PTA for further judging.  There were also 59 pieces that received the honorable Judge's Choice Award (JC). Congrats to all the students who made it to the Council Level for judging!

We'd also like to honor and congratulate the following six (6) artists for their awards at the state level. The three (3) Outstanding Interpretation winners will advance to the National PTA for the final round of judging! ​

Check out our 2020-2021 Reflections Virtual Art Showcase!

This is a multi-media Showcase event! Guests are able to view the dance and film pieces, listen to the music composition, read the literature pieces, and view the photography and visual arts pieces.

All 229 Northshore PTSA Council Qualifier student artworks are on display and we've listed the State Qualifiers and Judge's Choice Award recipients in each arts category.
​
We wish we could be with you all in person but have great hopes for the in person Art Celebration next year! For now, visit the Virtual Art Showcase link so you can enjoy and marvel at the courage and creativity of our Northshore student artists!

Please note, the Virtual Art Showcase will be available for viewing for one week only: Friday, February 26th through Friday, March 5th.

Thank you to all that attended our 3rd membership meeting of the school year and our first meeting in 2021!
Each meeting provides us with an opportunity to connect with our wonderful local PTA leaders.

Council Business and Reports
Our meeting started off with an update from one of our Emergency Prep Co-Chairs, Tracy Jokisch. We learned that NSD is monitoring zooms for welfare checks. They are working on protocols regarding locations of students because many are traveling with family while attending classes. Reminder that if you see something strange going in the background during a classroom zoom to call 911. If you see a problem, call or email NSD Safety and Security.

The PTSA E-Prep committee has been meeting with district rep, Clarke Combs, about various E-Prep items. From those discussions it was decided that there is a need for each school to have at least 2 Stop the Bleed kits on campus. Click here to learn more about Stop the Bleed Kits. A motion was passed to add funds to the E-Prep budget to cover the purchase of 2 Stop the Bleed kits per school. With support from local PTAs/PTSAs, this is a great start to reach the goal of having a kit at each school’s AED, rather than only at the nurse’s office.

After approving the minutes from the November membership meeting, we moved on to the Treasurer’s reports for November and December. Our Treasurer, Liz Nord, reported that we were receiving council program fees as well as additional membership fees via memberplanet. Liz concluded her report by sharing that the virtual mid-year financial review had been completed and detailed suggestions provided by the financial review team.

Next on the agenda was a report from our VP of Advocacy, Diana Christiansen. Diana shared with everyone that WSPTA Advocacy Week began on 1/18 and will conclude on 1/22. Each day had a different advocacy topic and Diana urged local leaders to visit the Northshore Council Blog for more information regarding Focus on Advocacy Week.

Then Grace Jurado and Liz Nord from our Nominating Committee reported that they have been in talks with current council leaders regarding who will be interested in staying on in their positions next year. They also put out a request for nominations and reminded everyone that there is a link in both the newsletter and the website for those interested in nominating. Learn more here.

Our Reflections Chair, Rachel Northquist, shared the exciting news that 55 submissions will be moving on to State! She is also currently working on a method to share and display the submissions and will keep council updated with the plan.

Melissa Kline, Membership Chair, reported that we currently have 4485 members and that we are at 77% of last years membership. She also reminded local leaders to think of your PTA as a brand and to share the good work that your PTA has been doing for your school and community.

Next on the agenda was a Family and Community Engagement (F.A.C.E.) report from Lauren Lewis. She offered some important reminders with regards to planning events for your community including attempt to reach everyone – not just your members. (School directories are available. Please send requests to our Council Secretary, Kimberly Ortiz.) Lauren also shared the importance of consulting the NPTA Multicultural Calendar when planning meetings or events.  Lauren is working on applications for the WSPTA FACE Awards and would also love to hear from anyone regarding how they think that Northshore Council is succeeding in Family and Community Engagement. You can email her directly at familyengagement@northshorecouncilptsa.org.

Jane Chiodo gave an update on the Educational Speakers & Community Events Grants Program. She stated that the round 3
applications were due January 22nd . These funds are available for local PTA’s to apply for if they would like to host parent education events.

Concluding the council business and reports agenda was a reminder from Grace Jurado regarding WSPTA Awards. Grace shared that awards applications are due March 15th but you can contact them now in order to receive a dropbox link so your PTA can start collecting items for submission. She also reminded leaders that awards can often help with branding your PTA as well. If you have never applied for an award before she suggested that the Standards of Excellence award is the most general award but that there are also different categories choose to from. One recommendation was the F.A.C.E. award as it
doesn’t seem to receive as many applications as the others do. There was also a brief discussion regarding equity of the awards and the membership agreed that there may be a need to vocalize more prominently that awards are available for everyone to apply for as they are about your PTAs/PTSAs personal achievements, not comparing them to other PTAs (multiple PTAs can win the same award). Learn more about WSPTA Awards here.

District and Community Reports
School Board Director, David Cogan, presented an update regarding Northshore School District that included but was not limited to:

• Playgrounds now being open to the community
• New guidelines regarding vaccine schedules that will allow school employees and teachers to be immunized more quickly
• King County has  determined that March 1st is the date for opening of athletic fields
• NSD was recognized by GFOA and the district budget was awarded the distinguished budget presentation
• Dr. Reid was named WA State Superintendent of the Year
• ELA pilots in place in K-8 and the district is working hard to ensure that reading metrics are working for all students learning to read
• Due to campus closures, the district has been able to expedite the modern lock, fencing and camera upgrades
• Inglemoor Concert Hall is making great progress and has a lot of the steel up.

NSD Partnerships and Volunteer Coordinator, Natalie Campbell, reported the following:

• Applications for Innovation Lab High School are currently open
• There is a new Chinese language program at Sunrise Elementary
• Wall of Honor applications are open
• The Community Resource pages are continually being updated
• NSD has continued its partnership with 6 Crickets which provides a fee-based database of afterschool programs
• Volunteer applications are now available and can be submitted online

Carmin Dalziel, representing the Northshore School Foundation, shared that each school has scholarship money set aside in Care Teams. If someone needs a scholarship individually send them to a Care Team. It was also noted that the Basic Needs Fund is for a crisis, a one-time event that a family needs help with. Carmin also reminded us that there are many Northshore Gives campaigns that need donations. If there are any PTAs/PTSAs that would like to donate, please contact NSF. Lastly, the All in For Kids Virtual Fundraiser Event will be held 4/8/2021 and she encouraged people to enroll in groups.

Guest Speaker
Cherry Holmes, Region 6 DEI Chair, WSPTA FACE Committee and WSPTA DEI Chair, presented on and discussed WSPTA DEI resources that local leaders can use within their own units. By advancing diversity, equity and inclusion there will be better outcomes for families and students. The DEI presentation shared that diversity is the representation and respect for people from different backgrounds and identities. Equity provides fairness in resources, opportunities, and outcomes. Inclusion is actions and social norms that ensure ALL PEOPLE feel that they are safe, welcomed, and that they belong. The presentation asked PTAs/PTSAs to take a deeper look at what is happening in their local unit - that they may be colorblind or on autopilot with business as usual. It’s important to build membership and leadership from diverse backgrounds and experiences. Improvements for PTAs/PTSAs requires measurements. Know your school’s demographics and statistics; this info can be found on the OSPI school report card site. Know your school and community – does it represent your PTA/PTSA? Identify barriers in your community, including culture, socio economic, policies, and relevancy. Cherry’s DEI presentation will be shared in the meeting Dropbox so members can have access to the slide presentation to take back to discuss with their PTAs/PTSAs.

Our next membership meeting will be held on Monday, March 15th. We hope to see you there!