Ford School student wins national contest

LYNN – Ford School fourth-grader Madison Willey’s artwork will get a nationwide viewing next year when a tray liner she designed hits lunchrooms around the country.”It feels good,” said Willey, referring to her pending showing. “I was surprised.”Lunch cook Marion Mininger said she noticed Preferred Meals had an item about the contest on the side of its cartons of tray liners and she passed it on to the school’s art teacher.Willey drew from her experience in the school’s community garden to come up with her picture, which she said “just came to me.” In the drawing smiling broccoli trees dance with tomatoes and other vegetables over a banner that reads “Eat Us All Please.”Willey admitted, however, that she is not a huge fan of broccoli but she does like tomatoes, blueberries and apples.The contest was fairly easy for Willey because she likes to draw, she said.”I take after my uncle,” she said, adding, “I like to draw animals and backgrounds, and I like to write about things.”Along with sketching, Willey said she has also completed a 10-page short story about two little bugs that move to a new location.Despite the ease of creating the drawing, the 10-year-old said she was surprised when she learned she had won the national contest. She shrugged off the idea, however, that it would be a big deal among her classmates when her liner debuted in the fall.”She’s very humble,” said Ford School Principal Claire Crane. “It is a big deal and we’re all very proud of her.”Mininger said she planned to frame a laminated version of Willey’s artwork to hang on the school’s “Wall of Fame.” It is the wall where she hangs the ribbons students have won over the years at the Topsfield Fair for the vegetables they’ve raised in the school’s garden. Mininger said she thought it would be a nice fit.”I’ve got a special frame for it and a spot off to the side,” she said. “It will be perfect.”Chris Stevens can be reached at [email protected].