GREENFIELD — First-grader Mariya Stytsenko first arrived to Newton School in November after moving to the United States from Kazakhstan. Wednesday she arrived into Boston ready to be honored as one of 11 finalists in a Massachusetts School Building Authority contest.
When Mariya left Boston, she walked away as the statewide winner of the 11th annual My Ideal School contest, an opportunity for first-graders to draw what makes their school great and what can make their school ideal.
As the winner, not only will Mariya have her drawing reproduced on the front cover of the building authority’s annual report — but she is also the winner of $200.
When she came to the country, Mariya’s mother, Anzhelika, gave the Russian-native speaker as many books as she could — but she went through them quickly.
Her tutor and the Russian translator for the school district, Lucia Ivantchev, said one of Mariya’s relatives told her, “I don’t have more books. She read all the books in my house. I don’t have more books to give to her.”
Mariya loves to read, to write and most of all, to draw. Both her mother and her teacher, Mickey Warren, say she is extremely detail-oriented about her work.
“Her reading and writing in English, and her artwork is unbelievable for a first-grader,” Warren said.
She was recognized at Newton’s monthly all school meeting in front of peers and parents.
Around 2,500 first-graders from across the state sent in artwork for the contest. Last year, Newton School also had a finalist, Savannah Glenn.
After being recognized locally as a finalist, Mariya, who wants to be an artist when she grows up, gave a clear answer to the motivation behind what she drew to depict her ideal school.
“It will be better if Newton School will be made of rainbows,” Mariya said. “And dinosaurs.”
This story contains a correction. Due to erroneous information provided to the Greenfield Recorder, the sum of the prize money was incorrect in an earlier version of this story.
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Joshua Solomon at:
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