Back in November, Old Saybrook High School juniors Elizabeth Steindl and Leanna Yeung participated in a nationwide art competition for Crosley Radio to decorate one of their record players according to a given theme. The general theme of the competition, “Band Together”, was centered around the correlation between music and art. While most schools participating in this project had done something like painting on top of a record player, Steindl and Yeung decided to go a different route by building a guitar case around the record player. Steindl says, “I talked about it with Ms. Newton and Leanna and they liked the idea because instead of just painting the record player like the other schools were doing, we decided to build on to it, change the shape, and make it into something entirely new.”
To play into the theme of “banding together,” many other students were invited to help participate in the project, leaving their own unique mark on the project. This was done by making a unique patch, sticker, or decoration to put on the top of the case. Mrs. Newton, who came to the two to ask if they wanted to join, said in an email,, “I think they did an incredible job! I was so proud and impressed by their dedication of staying after school multiple days to reach the contest’s deadline and how their idea kept expanding to create something that really stood out amongst other entries.”
Despite all the successes, however, the voting was primarily based on social media likes, so it ultimately fell short of the other schools. The true achievement was through the connection of all the other students, and the experience that the project brought on, as noted by Elizabeth, who said, “We weren’t influencers but we counted ourselves as winners with everything we learned and created.”
