Honorable Mention - High School
Blackwell Senior High Art Students, Blackwell

MY HOMETOWN - BLACKWELL, OKLAHOMA

The art students from Blackwell High School created our collage. These students include Jari Redding, Shelby Stricklin, Michael Taylor, Amber Spracklin, Jamie Thompson, Keith Newton, Holly King, and Curtis Cavanaugh. Instead of treating the project like a mandatory class assignment, everyone included his or her own individual ideas. Our collage was not only a fun and interesting process, it was also a great learning experience for everyone involved. Although we could not feature every quality, event, and hobby of our community and its residents, we did our best to find pictures that show and represent as many of them as possible.

Our collage somewhat portrays an average, mediocre town. Our community is average without losing its individuality. Blackwell was christened the name "America's Hometown." It is a great place for families, individuals, students, and visitors. Our community is home to more than 7,500 people, which includes more than 3,600 families. Blackwell's public school system centers on a modern, campus-style high school, a middle school, and three elementary schools. Also, continuing education and higher education are conveniently available nearby at Pioneer Area Vo-Tech in Ponca, and Northern Oklahoma College in Tonkawa. Our community is also the home of the Top of Oklahoma Museum, which is great for assisting students in their studies, providing positive family activities, and helping visitors learn more about our community. Another learning opportunity provided by our city is our public library with its 3,500 volumes for research and perusing. Our city government not only provides a variety of education and learning opportunities, but they also provide an abundance of churches and health care options. Although our community is fairly small, it includes 23 churches. Even though there are a lot of churches in Blackwell, they all differ in their ceremonies and traditions. This way, it is easier for new members to find a church that fits them. For health care, our city offers a 55-bed hospital, three medical clinics, two nursing homes, eight medical doctors, three chiropractors, two dentists, and two optometrists. Additionally, specialists in the fields of cardiology, orthopedics, otology, oncology, and urology commute weekly to Blackwell from Oklahoma City.

Our community also offers a variety of jobs. Blackwell is not only known for its agricultural productivity in the fertile Chickaskia River Valley, it also hosts a variety of industries, businesses attracted and cultivated through authorized Enterprise Zones (an industrial park), a skilled labor force, and convenient vocational-technical training.

Blackwell offers different types of entertainment for people of all ages all year long. Many people enjoy strolling through some of the activities that our city provides include a nine-hole public golf course, six parks (two with walking/jogging trails), six tennis courts, an Olympic-sized swimming pool, a children's pool, a bowling alley equipped with video games and pool tables, and a youth center for public and private parties for youth. Blackwell's residents can also enjoy baseball, softball, volleyball, and intramural sports for both adults and children. Members of our community also stay very active in supporting school spirit. Several homes and vehicles in our community display Maroon Spirit for our schools. All of these activities are common for Blackwell citizens, but the most common hobbies are fishing, swimming, hunting, and camping. Residents on the east side of town practically have the Chickaskia River in their backyards. The Chickaskia River is where many of the residents go to fish, swim, and camp. Some of the things we do as a community are enjoying the numerous annual events held in Blackwell. Our most popular event is the Kay County Free Fair. It is the largest county fair in Oklahoma. It basically consists of more than ninety outdoor vendors, eight buildings full of exhibits, livestock competitions, carnival rides, and free entertainment. Our other more popular events are the Tulips A Bloom Follies, the Blackwell Flea Market, and the Blackwell Home Water Garden Tour. During then holiday season, Blackwell Chamber of Commerce holds Oklahoma's largest indoor animated Christmas display and the Bells and Bows lighting display.

Our community has a lot to offer to both its residents and visitors. We tried to feature as many of our town's qualities in our collage as possible. There are a few things mentioned here that are not featured in our collage, because we had some difficulty finding pictures to represent some of the events that had not yet taken place this year. We also thought that telling more about Blackwell than just the necessary basics would help give a better mental image of our community and its residents.