MONROE — Parkside Elementary School art instructor Sarah Witke is the recipient of Artsonia’s 2020 Art Education Leadership Award. The award honors pioneers in the art education community who continuously inspire their peers and engage students.

Witke’s peers and Artsonia selected her among thousands of instructors as one of 15 national winners of this award.

“I feel honored to be recognized as a leader in arts education,” said Witke. “I owe many thanks to the School District of Monroe, Parkside Elementary, the staff and students that have been supportive and taught me so much over the years.”

Witke has been teaching in Monroe for the past eight years as an art instructor. She is one of thousands of art teachers from over 100 countries around the world who use Artsonia to showcase their student art, crowdsource lesson plans and help fundraise for their classrooms. Artsonia, the world’s largest online student art museum, allows family and friends of student artists create and purchase organic keepsakes from the student art, and then gives back 20% of all revenue to the local art classroom.

“I’ve used Artsonia to show examples to students, catalogue my projects and promote art education. The connections this platform provides is not measurable,” said Witke. “I have had my student’s family members from across the country and in other countries thank me for providing their little artist’s work for them to see. I will never forget being in the grocery store when a Parkside mom approached me and let me know that her family in India was thrilled to see artwork from her daughter.”

Artsonia’s 2020 Art Education Leadership Award serves as a way to honor the hard-working, passionate instructors who help children tap into their creative side and learn to create and cherish art.

For more information, visit https://artsonia.squarespace.com/leadershipaward2020#Witke.