Student's drawing picked for magazine
CRANBERRY TWP — A Rowan Elementary School student’s drawing was chosen from among thousands worldwide to appear in Highlights children’s magazine.
The fixture of doctors’ waiting rooms and the night stands of young readers everywhere printed Veronica Pimenova’s drawing of seven industrious ants using teamwork to move a stick across a meadow.
The colorful drawing was printed in the magazine’s “Your Own Pages” section, where selected drawings and poems sent in by children appear in each month’s issue.
“I was happy because out of all of America they picked mine,” said Veronica, 9, of her drawing’s selection. “My friends said ‘Veronica, you’re very lucky.’”
She said the idea came from the annual “Reflections” poetry, music, story and art competition sponsored last year by the Rowan Elementary Parent-Teacher Association. The theme of the competition was teamwork, and Veronica recalled a scene she had witnessed while playing outside.
“I was looking at an anthill, and I saw them helping each other,” Veronica said.
She accidentally put her name on the drawing when she submitted it to the Reflections competition, so it was disqualified because submissions were required to be anonymous. But that didn’t stop the fourth-grader.
“I wanted my picture in Highlights,” she said.
Her mother, Natalia, said the picture was mailed to Highlights’ editorial headquarters in Honesdale, Pa., nearly 10 months ago. She said the family was notified of Veronica’s success about two months ago.
Veronica’s drawing appears in the April issue.
Christine Cully, Highlights editor in chief, said, “Each month we select a diverse collection of work by boys and girls of all ages and from many different places in the world. We hope to foster children’s creativity, and Veronica’s use of watercolor and how she chose to represent teamwork are not only creative, but also interesting.”
“I was very surprised,” said Natalia Pimenova, whose family also includes her husband Konstantin, and their son Albert, 5.
Veronica said her Rowan Elementary art teacher, Jason Woolslare, has taught her various techniques to improve her artwork.
She credits him in part with her successful submission.
Veronica received a few extra copies of the April issue from the Highlights staff, and she promptly sent one off to her grandmother in Russia.
Because her mother, father and brother are the only members of her family in America, where her parents met and were married, she often Skypes with her grandmother or talks to her on the phone.
“She really liked it,” said Veronica, who is fluent in both English and Russian.
Veronica plans to be a professional figure skater when she grows up, but she has an alternative plan in case skating doesn’t work out.
“I’ll be a doctor or a lawyer,” she said.
In addition to her weekly figure skating lessons, Veronica enjoys playing piano, reading and traveling.
