Student Winners Announced In Thanksgiving Parade Design Contest

By TAMMY BATTAGLIA • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • November 11, 2008

Julissa Madrigal smiled as she stuck out her finger and popped a bubble floating through the air in front of her, a bubble from the float she designed for this year's America's Thanksgiving Parade.

The last time seventh-grader at Earhart Middle School in Detroit had seen her creation "Our Aquarium," it was a paper and colored pencil drawing she created with help from her art teacher, Nick Ellis.

Today, she saw it come to life as a float, her creation chosen as one of two top winners in the 17th annual Skillman Foundation float and balloon design contest for students throughout Detroit.

“It’s beautiful,” Julissa said as her mother, Ana Madrigal, shed tears of joy behind her, as the song “Down By The Sea” blared and a life-sized foam whale seemed to jump across bright plumes of plywood seaweed and little pretend children on the float. “I just love killer whales. They’re my favorite animals.”

Emirene Munoz grabbed a rope, her eyes growing wide as she held the rein for a 20-foot-tall version of her winning elephant balloon design floating in front of her. The eighth-grader from Clippert Academy said she was very nervous about seeing “Elephante” for the first time today outside the Parade Studio on the city’s east side.

“I never won something like this before,” said Emirene, 14, who hasn’t decided yet whether to be a doctor or an artist. She said her favorite thing to draw is actually people. “I just see folks walking or cartoon people”

The two grand prize winners were chosen from more than 300 designs created by Detroit students.

The honorable mention winners for balloon designs were:
Arlene Torres, sixth grade, Academy of the Americas, for Neighborhood Butterfly”;
Adam Yang, fourth grade, Fleming Academy, for “The Dragon Warrior”; Walter Richey, seventh grade, Leland Community Affairs Inc., for “Make a Change-Change Brightmoor”, and Ande Villarreal, fifth grade, Bennette Elementary, for “The American Heart.”

The honorable mention winners for float designs were: Regina Aleman, eighth grade, at Clippert Academy, for “Art Bucket”; Atziry Ruiz, fifth grade, Bennett Elementary, “Candy X-Press”; Mariah Shaw, third grade, Harms School, “The Neighborhood Zoo”, and Yajaira Carrillo, fifth grade, Cesar Chavez Academy, “The Crazy Wheel.”