Cooper-Levenson attorney Jo-Anna Daly (left to right), Marlton Middle School teacher Kate Gormley, seventh grader Evelyn Seiders and Evesham school Superintendent Dr. Justin Smith with Seiders’ winning card.
The Evesham board of education recently honored a student who won the annual Cooper-Levenson holiday card contest and cited the Marlton United Methodist Church for a $32,050 donation that will help pay outstanding student lunch debt.
The annual contest celebrates the creativity of school district students, with the winning design featured on the law firm’s Christmas cards. Marlton Middle School seventh-grader Evelyn Seiders came out on top with her design, Winter Wonderland Magic.
Also cited were Seiders’ art teacher Kate Gormley and Principal Gary Hoffman. School Superintendent Dr. Justin Smith praised the realism in the middle-schooler’s design.
“If you look at the snow, you can see the light from the house, street light, and the star shining off of the snow,” he noted. “I just think that is such a realistic touch, like if I had (made a holiday card), I would have just left the snow white, but with that light shining off, it really just brightens it all and makes it feel so much more welcoming.”
In addition to commemorative plaques, Seiders and four other contest entrants earned $50 gift cards, and their art teachers got $100 gift cards to fund classroom supplies and other needs. Seiders’ win marks the 11th consecutive year that a student in Gormley’s class has come out on top.
Smith also commented on the church donation.
“From an amazing accomplishment in art to an amazing accomplishment in generosity,” he said.
He called the church’s donation of its Christmas Eve offering “unprecedented.”
“There’s no other examples of this (type of donation),” Smith explained. “When the idea was first shared with (the district) we thought, ‘Oh, maybe this might be enough for a school or some portion of our student body. (The donation) resulted in something that is going to help not just students now, but (the amount) is large enough to also help future students and be a living legacy in that way of caring about people we don’t even know, which the world needs a ton of.
“We are deeply grateful.”
