Meet the 2023-2024 Reflections Theme Search Contest Winner!

Every year, hundreds of thousands of students across the country and in U.S. schools abroad participate in the Reflections program, creating artwork in response to an annual theme. Through Reflections, PTA provides students with an opportunity to grow their confidence and a platform to raise their voice on social issues. As part of that effort, we are proud to say that since the program’s launch over 50 years ago, the annual Reflections theme has always been developed by a student through the National PTA Annual Theme Search Contest.  

During the Theme Search Contest, students from across the country submit unique theme suggestions to their state PTAs, who then select up to five finalist themes and send them to National PTA. Once the submissions reach National PTA, volunteer leaders conduct multiple stages of review. These reviewers narrow the wide field of creative entries to just one by searching for a theme that is original, inspiring, focused and widely applicable. It is not an easy task!  

In fall 2021, we began a nationwide search for the theme for the 2023-2024 program year. Over the course of the Theme Search Contest, National PTA received over 75 entries from 18 different state PTAs. From these state-winning, student-selected theme submissions, we are excited to announce that the winner is …  

Alice Meko with her submission, I Am Hopeful Because…!  

With her winning submission, Alice joins the ranks of select students who have shaped the Reflections program over the years by determining the theme that guides an entire program cycle. Alice is a fourth-grader from Hampton Cove Elementary School PTA in Alabama. Her winning theme suggestion has earned her $100 and will inspire thousands of students across the nation during the 2023-2024 Reflections program. 

Alabama PTA surprised Alice with the news during an awards ceremony at her school. The event included Paula Lyman, Alabama PTA VP Programs and ALPTA Reflections Co-chair; Liz Boykin, Alabama PTA, Reflections Co-chair; Beth Wilder, Huntsville City Schools Board of Education, District 2; Christie Finley, Superintendent, Huntsville City Schools; Elizabeth Fleming, Director of Public Development, Huntsville City Schools; Dr. Lakeeta Perkins, Hampton Cove Elementary, Principal; and Sonia Parker, Hampton Cove Elementary, GATE teacher. Everyone was so excited to come together and recognize Alice’s accomplishment!  

During the program, Alice took a moment to share her inspiration for her winning theme. She explained, “Through these rough times, everybody needs a little hope around here.” 

Reviewers for the 2023-2024 Theme Search Contest also noted that I Am Hopeful Because… is relatable to many. One reviewer shared that hope is “something needed more than ever.” And while it is highly applicable now, hope springs eternal; the theme will likely remain inspiring to students for years to come. 

Currently, Reflections participants are creating artwork in response to the 2021-2022 program year’s theme, I Will Change the World By…, which was submitted by Lydia Keel from Spanish Fork Junior High School PTSA in Utah during the 2021-2022 Theme Search Contest. We are so excited to share how student artists across the country and in U.S. schools abroad have chosen to express how they will change the world. The 200+ national student winners from this year will be announced May 1, so mark your calendars! 

The 2022-2023 Reflections program theme—Show Your Voice!—will launch in April. We thank Jason Yevin, from Salk/Macarthur PTSA in New York for submitting that theme idea during the 2022-2023 Theme Search Contest. You can learn more about the events that inspired his idea in this blog post. Stay tuned for the launch at PTA.org/Reflections and then look for more information from your participating state PTA. 

We encourage all Reflections supporters to help shape the future of the Reflections program by participating in the annual Theme Search Contest. One theme submission could inspire the nation! Visit your state PTA’s Reflections Program page to learn more.  


Sarah Scalet is the 2020-2022 National PTA Arts in Education Fellow. 

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