{"id":11572,"date":"2023-11-14T10:59:47","date_gmt":"2023-11-14T15:59:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=11572"},"modified":"2023-11-14T11:38:46","modified_gmt":"2023-11-14T16:38:46","slug":"going-to-holiday-lights-at-the-beach-one-of-our-students-designed-a-new-display-there","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/going-to-holiday-lights-at-the-beach-one-of-our-students-designed-a-new-display-there\/","title":{"rendered":"Going to Holiday Lights at the Beach? One of our students designed a new display there."},"content":{"rendered":"
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ODS sixth-grader Kylie Zhu\u2019s artwork \u201cMelting Snowman\u201d was chosen from more than 50 entries to become part of the 28th annual \u201cHoliday Lights at the Beach\u201d show Nov. 17-Dec. 31 at the Virginia Beach oceanfront.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

-By Cindy Butler Focke<\/em><\/p>\n

The Virginia Beach boardwalk will shine a little brighter this year, thanks to a sixth grade Old Donation School student.<\/p>\n

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The “Melting Snowman” design<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kylie Zhu\u2019s artwork \u201cMelting Snowman\u201d was selected to be part of the 28th<\/sup> annual Holiday Lights at the Beach. The snowman will join jumping fish, musical crabs, a surfing Santa and more as part of the festive drive-thru holiday light display Nov. 17-Dec. 31.<\/p>\n

Representatives from Beach Events stopped by Old Donation School on Oct. 12 to surprise Kylie with the news. Art teacher Cat Gadzinski escorted Kylie and her class to the school foyer, where a group of folks were waiting, including her parents.<\/p>\n

Principal Joel Guldenschuh welcomed students and guests, then introduced Beach Events director William Younce, who asked if anyone remembered the art contest for \u201cHoliday Lights at the Beach.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The melting snowman display, under construction<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cOne of your classmates is our winner,\u201d Younce said. \u201cCongratulations to Kylie!\u201d<\/p>\n

Applause followed and Kylie was presented with a congratulatory plaque. Younce told them Kylie\u2019s artwork was chosen from more than 50 entries from Virginia Beach elementary and middle schools by a team of city officials and members of Beach Events\u2019 steering committee.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a lot of great submissions,\u201d Younce said. \u201cKylie\u2019s was an overwhelming favorite.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her snowman artwork will be transformed into a giant 17 feet tall by 14 feet wide lighted metal structure by local artist Andy Vakos, and part of the holiday lights show for years to come.<\/p>\n

Her drawing features a melting snowman wearing a sunhat. Kylie said she added a hat \u201cbecause it\u2019s always hot in Virginia Beach.\u201d She said the perched cardinal on top of the hat signifies the state bird of Virginia.<\/p>\n

The artwork was completed and submitted during the spring while Kylie was in Leigh Drake\u2019s fifth grade art class. Drake is now the visual fine arts instructional specialist for Virginia Beach City Public Schools. She described her former student as \u201can incredible artist.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou give her a prompt, and she excels,\u201d Drake said.<\/p>\n

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Kylie Zhu\u2019s parents Yue Lu, left, and Yu Zhu visited ODS recently for a surprise announcement. Their daughter Kylie Zhu\u2019s artwork \u201cMelting Snowman\u201d was chosen to be part of the 28th annual \u201cHoliday Lights at the Beach\u201d show at the Virginia Beach oceanfront.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kylie\u2019s parents, Yue Lu and Yu Zhu, hugged their daughter. They knew she was receiving an award but were given no details. Kylie\u2019s mother said her daughter has been drawing since she was about 3 years old.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so proud and so happy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s always been very talented,\u201d added her father.<\/p>\n

Younce also presented a special invitation to Kylie\u2019s family. Both Kylie and display designer Andy Vakos will be honored during the unveiling of the \u201cMelting Snowman\u201d light display on Nov. 16 near The Oceanfront Inn, 2901 Atlantic Avenue. That same evening, the community is invited to ride bikes for free along the boardwalk for \u201cHoliday Lights Bike Night,\u201d which will begin at 10th<\/sup> Street.<\/p>\n

While you\u2019re at Holiday Lights at the Beach, stop by the boat captain display at 24th Street in front of the Virginia Surf & Rescue Museum to see how students designed a wind and solar powered energy station illuminating the display and shedding light on renewable energy. On Bike Night, Environmental Studies Program students will be preforming a concert powered by this renewable energy and they will be energized to talk about their work with the public.<\/p>\n

\u201cHoliday Lights at the Beach\u201d officially opens Nov. 17 and will stretch from 2nd Street at the oceanfront to 33rd<\/sup> Street.<\/p>\n

Kylie said she\u2019s glad she entered the contest and can\u2019t believe her artwork was chosen to be part of the annual event. She had some advice for others: \u201cEven if you don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to happen; it might, so keep dreaming.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want to go? <\/strong><\/p>\n

What:<\/strong> Bayport Credit Union Holiday Lights at the Beach, presented by Food Lion<\/p>\n

When:<\/strong> Nov. 17-Dec. 31, 5-10 p.m.<\/p>\n

Where:<\/strong> Entry at 2nd<\/sup> Street, the Virginia Beach boardwalk<\/p>\n

Cost: <\/strong>$25 per vehicle Monday – Thursday; $30 Friday-Sunday. Tickets must be purchased in advance.<\/p>\n

Info:<\/strong> www.beacheventsva.com<\/p>\n

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Kylie Zhu and fellow art students celebrated the recent announcement that the ODS sixth-grader\u2019s artwork \u201cMelting Snowman\u201d was selected to be part of the 28th annual \u201cHoliday Lights at the Beach\u201d Nov. 17-Dec. 31 at the Virginia Beach oceanfront. Her art teacher Cat Gadzinski is on the left, and former art teacher Leigh Drake on the right.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
ODS sixth-grader Kylie Zhu was surprised at school by Beach Events. Her artwork \u201cMelting Snowman\u201d was chosen to become part of the 28th annual \u201cHoliday Lights at the Beach\u201d show Nov. 17-Dec. 31 at the Virginia Beach oceanfront. From left, Kylie\u2019s art teacher Cat Gadzinski, principal Joel Guldenschuh, Kylie\u2019s mother Yue Lu, Kylie, her father Yu Zhu and former art teacher Leigh Drake, director of Beach Events William Younce.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

-By Cindy Butler Focke The Virginia Beach boardwalk will shine a little brighter this year, thanks to a sixth grade Old Donation School student. Kylie Zhu\u2019s artwork \u201cMelting Snowman\u201d was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":11575,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11572"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11572\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11587,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11572\/revisions\/11587"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}