Arden Elementary School fourth-grade student Aneysha Laureano won first place in the second-third grade division of the National Association of Conservation Districts’ 2024 Youth Poster Contest. She was announced as the winner during the association’s 79th annual meeting February 10 in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The contest is an annual education program that invites students to explain the importance of environmental and conservation efforts through artwork. The theme for the 2024 contest was “May the Forest Be with You Always,” which focuses on the importance of forests and their connection to soil and water conservation.
Aneysha will receive a $200 cash prize for winning the contest. She says her art teacher, George Sims, played a big role in helping her with her poster.
“He encourages me to draw well. He’s proud that I won,” she said.
Aneysha also won first place in the second-third grade divisions of Richland County and South Carolina’s conservation poster contests.
Applications open for The Modjeska Simkins School for Human Rights
The Modjeska Simkins School for Human Rights has opened enrollment for its spring session, marking the school’s 10th year of teaching civics, organizing strategies, and a people’s history of South Carolina to students of all ages and backgrounds. In this age of book bans and challenges to historical narratives, its role is more critical than ever.
The 2025 session runs March 3 – June 23, with classes meeting Monday evenings online and in-person at GROW in Columbia.
The school welcomes anyone interested in understanding and better navigating our state’s social and political landscape. Whether you are a lover of history, an activist seeking ways to be more effective in your work, a retired person wanting to get involved in your community, or a transplant who wants to know the peculiar history of South Carolina, this course will benefit you.
This year, students can attend in-person at three satellite locations: in Sumter; at the SC Civil Rights Museum in Orangeburg; and at historic Penn Center in St. Helena, near Beaufort. These sites will stream the classes live from GROW in Columbia, the School’s headquarters.
“We hope this will become a model for collaborating with allied groups across South Carolina,” said Brett Bursey, executive director of the SC Progressive Network, the nonprofit that launched the school in 2015. “Because we see the value in these partnerships, we are waiving tuition fees
for students attending at these remote locations. We believe it is a sound investment for the long-term.”
Penn Center’s Executive Director Robert L. Adams said, “The Penn Center’s partnership with the Modjeska Simkins School continues Penn’s enduring legacy of providing educational and self-empowerment opportunities for the Carolina Lowcountry. Informed citizens, who are the cornerstone of American democracy, are nurtured by the rich intellectual experience and critical thinking skills offered by the Modjeska Simkins School. We are proud to extend the reach of such an important program.”
The simulcast location in Sumter has been coordinated by Network staff member James Felder, who in 1970 was among the first Black legislators elected in South Carolina since Reconstruction.
Noted photographer Cecil Williams will host the Orangeburg group at the SC Civil Rights Museum, which he curates and operates. “The South Carolina civil rights stories are too important to be unheard,” Williams said. “We welcome partnering with the Modjeska School to change all that.”
