PARRISH, Fla. – Neal Communities, southwest Florida’s premier, private homebuilder, recently partnered with Annie Lucy Williams Elementary School in Parrish for its annual “My Favorite Home Art Contest, ” which was attended by the top 10 student finalists in each grade level along with school officials and guest judges from around the community.
This is the 18th year that Neal Communities has held the My Favorite Home Art Contest, featuring a different community school each year in Manatee or Sarasota County.
“What a wonderful opportunity to partner with a local business and support art in our school,” said Connie Dixon, principal of Williams Elementary School. “The contest was a way to see the students’ creativity drawing their favorite homes using different mediums, and they really loved it. I am so proud of our students.”
Neal Communities donated $1,500 to the school’s art program at the event.
“We are extremely thankful to Neal Communities for its generous donation, which we will use toward the purchase of printing supplies, clay, tiles and kiln shelves,” said Nancy Seagle, art teacher at Williams Elementary. “Our students thoroughly enjoyed exploring different art mediums per grade level, and it was a nice way to combine that with our existing art curriculum for the beginning of the school year. We thank Neal Communities for the opportunity.”
All students in grades kindergarten through fifth grade participated in the contest. The kindergarten students used watercolor and first-grade students worked with oil pastels on colored paper. Second-graders used marker, third-graders worked with paper collage and fourth-graders utilized metallic pens on black paper. Fifth-grade students made charcoal sketches.
“For our entire team, this is one of our favorite events each year,” said Pat Neal, CEO and chairman of the board at Neal Communities. “We are proud to celebrate student art and education, and for 18 years, this contest has been an annual highlight for me both personally and professionally. We are thankful to the team at Williams Elementary for welcoming us into their school and are continually amazed at the creativity exhibited in the student masterpieces.”
The submissions were narrowed down to the top 60 entries to 10 from each grade level. A celebrity-judging panel chose six grade-level winners, including Dr. Diana Greene, Manatee County School superintendent; Gina Messenger, Manatee County School Board member; Sally Tibbets, district director for Congressman Vern Buchanan; and Gee Dee Kerr, executive director for State Representative Joe Gruters. Neal team members from marketing, sales, purchasing and accounting joined them. The Neal team selects two overall winners and those students’ artwork will adorn the cover of the 2017 holiday cards for Neal Communities and Neal Signature Homes.
Below are the grade-level winners listed in order:
Kindergarten – Elijah Lopes
First grade – Brendan Ott
Second grade – Sophia Murphy
Third grade – Charli Waldrip
Fourth grade – Baylee Carpenter
Fifth grade – Jai Li Mongeau
About Neal Communities
With over 40 years of building award-winning homes, Neal Communities has over 70 successful communities throughout southwest Florida. The Lakewood Ranch-based builder was named the Professional Builder 2015 “Builder of the Year” and was named one of 2012’s “America’s Best Builders” by BUILDER Magazine and voted the “2013 Best Residential Builder in Southwest Florida” in a readers’ poll sponsored by Gulfshore Business Magazine. The company is ranked No. 1 locally by Metrostudy and by Hanley Wood Market Intelligence based on number of home sales and ranked nationally among the top 50 builders by BUILDER Magazine.
To date, Neal has built over 13,000 homes in southwest Florida. As the area’s largest and most established, locally owned and operated private builder, Neal Communities is continually striving for excellence in every aspect of the home building and development business. Neal Signature Homes, Neal Land Ventures, Charlene Neal PureStyle, Waterscapes Pools & Spas, Neal Communities Funding, Fiducia Insurance and Allegiant Title Professionals all contribute to the firm’s continued, record-setting local success. The company’s honors and accolades include 44 Parade of Homes awards, 50 Aurora Awards, 5 Best in American Living Awards and hundreds of local and regional industry awards. For more information, please visit www.NealCommunities.com.