By Deborah Ashin, JTNews Correspondent
Private art lessons are generally not an option for the children at Dunlap Elementary School. Almost 85 percent are on the state’s free and reduced lunch program, and the school, located in the Rainier Beach neighborhood of Seattle, doesn’t even have a PTA.
That’s where Donna Amira comes in. Although Amira’s art classes are only 30 minutes long, and she must usually scrounge for supplies, her students consistently win awards for their artwork. Just as important, the children receive priceless inspiration from a teacher who has devoted herself to making a difference.
Over the past 25 years, Amira has entered her elementary, middle and high school students in over 75 art contests, winning 200 awards with scholarships and prizes totaling almost $25,000. In the last few years, they have won awards — often in first and second place — for contests sponsored by organizations such as the City of Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, Washington State Liquor Control Board, World Affairs Council, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, AAA Traffic Safety and Seattle City Light. Her students’ work, which has been exhibited as close by as City Hall, and as far away as China, appears on greeting cards, posters, billboards, calendars and posters.
Amira inspires her students to be creative, but also gives them the sense that they can achieve anything they want to. The contests she searches out also allow for discussions about important topics including drugs and tobacco. While Amira is a brilliant promoter — over the years she’s raised nearly $35,000 in grants and more than $20,000 in donations — the vivacious, high-energy Seattle native is modest about her work.
“I guess I’m just enthusiastic and have knowledge about art,” she says. “I work with each child individually, and try to get them to think about how to visually convey a message.” She also uses art as an opportunity for her students to solve problems that don’t have right or wrong answers, so her students get the joy of creating something that can be appreciated for a long time.
According to Dunlap Elementary School Principal Greg Imel, Amira spends an extraordinary amount of extra time helping her students and identifying contest opportunities.
Linda Lam, one of Amira’s students, recently entered a contest and won first place. It wasn’t an art contest she entered, however. Lam wrote an essay nominating Amira for the National Arts Initiative’s “Art Teacher of the Year.” Amira, who has taught at Dunlap for two and a half years, was named best teacher for this region. She received a $5,000 grant, which she is using to create a huge 24’ x 10’ tile mural for her school.
Two professional artists have been hired to help the kids and their families make hundreds of three-dimensional tiles depicting dolphins (the school’s mascot) and other marine life.
Amira invited parents, grandparents and kids to participate in tile-making parties at the school, where she also served a pizza dinner or bagel brunch. She has turned the parties into community events by inviting about 20 residents from the nearby Caroline Kline Galland Home.
Amira was excited about involving Jewish senior citizens in the tile project because her Jewish heritage has a significant influence on what she does.
“As Jews, we’re always taught to strive to be better people, which is why we’re asked to do mitzvahs,’ she says.
She especially applies this belief in her role as a teacher.
“It is in our culture to do good,’ she says, adding that her father, who came to the United States from Turkey when he was 13, would be especially pleased to see what his daughter has accomplished.
While Amira can’t exactly explain how she does it, Linda Lam, the 11-year-old girl who nominated her for best art teacher, says it best: “She teaches us a lot of stuff…she’s really nice, and I think she’s the best art teacher in the world.”