LAWFF Whooping Crane Art Contest Student Winners Announced | Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries

LDWF Secretary Madison Sheahan (far right) and LAWFF Executive Director Missy Fox (second from left) with winners of the LAWFF Whooping Crane Art Show student contest.

Lauren Rogers of Central High, Heidi Perla of Park Forest Middle School and Kei Robicheaux of Mayfair Lab were the winners of the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Foundation (LAWFF) Whooping Crane Art Show student art contest, presented by Raising Cane’s.

The announcement of the student winners capped LAWFF’s first Whooping Crane Art Show exhibit, which was held at Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) headquarters in Baton Rouge and featured more than 130 pieces. The exhibit was held to benefit LDWF’s Whooping Crane Project.

“Community involvement is part of the foundation of Raising Cane’s and we’re proud to support great causes like LAWFF,” said Todd Graves, owner of Raising Cane’s. “These students are incredibly talented and have bright futures ahead of them, and I’m glad Raising Cane’s gets to be part of their story.”

“We had 54 student entries in our first year and we want to thank not only the students but also the teachers who encouraged them to enter,’’ LAWFF Executive Director Missy Fox said. “The entries we received from both adults and students were outstanding and helped to raise awareness of this beautiful bird.’’

Rogers, a junior and the winner in the ninth-12th grade high school division, also won the student art show’s Biologist Choice in the contest.

Perla, an eighth grader, was first in the junior high division (sixth-eighth grades). Isabella Nunez, an eighth grader from McKinley Middle Magnet School, was second and Sanaa Marshall, an eighth grader from Park Forest Middle School, was third.

Robicheaux, a fourth grader, was first in the elementary division (first-fifth grades), Braileigh Gray, a second grader from Dufrocq Elementary School, was second and Anaya Rhea Baisakh, a fifth grader from Westdale Heights Academic Magnet, was third.

LAWFF uses money raised for the project to help in research and monitoring of the whooping crane population. LDWF began the project to re-establish whooping cranes in Louisiana in 2011. It marked a significant conservation milestone with the first wild whooping cranes back in Louisiana since 1950.

The project’s primary goal is to establish a self-sustaining whooping crane population in and around the White Lake Wetlands Conservation Area in southwest Louisiana.

The exhibit featured art from LAWFF’s Whooping Crane Art Contest, where adult and student artists submitted pieces for judging. Judges for the contest included LDWF biologist Sara Zimorski, who oversees the Whooping Crane Reintroduction Project, LDWF wildlife technician Eva Szyszkoski, who works on the project, WAFB-TV’s Liz Koh and Louisiana artists R.C. Davis and Becky Fos.

To see art submissions, visit http://www.lawff.org/2024-art-show-submissions.

For more information on the Foundation call 225-765-5100 or go to http://www.lawff.org/.