The front and back of Malabar’s 2018 “No Excuses” shirts and sweatshirts, shown above, were designed by student Gage Stephens. Clothing can be ordered until Nov. 16 by going to tygerpride.com and scrolling down to Malabar Intermediate under the schools heading at the top of the page. Sixth-grader
Gage Stephens, who likes to draw dragons and his own cartoon characters, created
the winning design for the 2018 version of Malabar Intermediate School’s “No
Excuses” shirts, sweatshirts and hoodies.
Intervention
specialist Dawn Cole said students at all grade levels – fourth, fifth and
sixth – submitted entries they made in art classes over a three-week period.
Gage’s tiger
face on the front of the clothing has “We Are Malabar” above it and “No
Excuses” below it. On the back is “Together We Carry On.”
“When I draw
something new, I don’t trace anything,” Gage said. “I put something beside me
to get an idea of what I’m going to draw, then I think of my ideas to change
it. I worked on this for about two weeks.”
A tiger face
seemed obvious, he said, recalling the tiger paw prints on the sidewalk at
Sherman Elementary, where he attended before moving on to Malabar. And, he
said, tiger images are common at Malabar.
“And then I thought, ‘Hey, I can do the lettering in tiger stripes,'” he said.
Sure enough,
those stripes adorn the letters on all of the words, front and back.
Cole had
high praise for Gage beyond his talents as an artist.
“He’s a
great kid. I believe any teacher here who knows him would say the same thing,”
she said.
For his
winning entry, Gage will receive a free Malabar hoodie when the new ones
arrive. Orders can be placed until Nov. 16 by going to tygerpride.com, then
scrolling down to Malabar Intermediate under the schools heading at the top of
the page. Click on the link below the orange shirt.
“I worked my
hardest on this drawing,” Gage said of his winning entry. “So many kids are
good at art. I was happy and excited. I am grateful that I won.”