Jessie Bayless, art teacher at Gerald Elementary School has received national recognition. The National Art Education Association (NAEA) has named Bayless its Western Region Elementary Art Educator 2021. The Western Region runs down the center of the country and includes 16 states and three Canadian provinces and territories. Bayless will accept her award at the NAEA’s national conference, to be held virtually this year. 

Bayless has been an enthusiastic educator in her time at GES. She has produced an art show in conjunction with each concert presented at the school. In recent years, those shows have featured interesting black light displays. She has strongly encouraged her students to enter their artwork in other projects such Youth Art Month, Hear the Music, and local poster contests. Her students are exposed to a variety of mediums and create work with various paints, clay, fiber and objects. 

Unfortunately for future Gerald students, this will be her last term at GES. Bayless has accepted the position of art teacher at OHS which she will begin this fall. She notes she doesn’t view this as a step up, but rather as a lateral one. “In the elementary setting I have been able to sow the seeds,” she explains. “At the high school level, I will able to reap the harvest.”