Arts & Entertainment Community Education
Discovery principal Delonna Halliday honored for promoting arts education
Her mother told her that being creative was more important than being smart. Delonna Halliday is both.
The Discovery Elementary School principal was one of seven educators across the state who received an Art Educator of the Year Award from the Washington Art Education Association in Seattle on Nov. 7.
Halliday, who received the award for Supervision and Administration Art Educator of the Year, has been passionate about incorporating art into the curriculum for more than 20 years. She began her teaching career in 2002, at Grant Center for the Expressive Arts in Tacoma.
Discovery Elementary principal Delonna Halliday, left, poses with Laura Marie Rivera, who nominated her for the Supervision and Administration Art Educator of the Year Award. Halliday received the award from the Washington Art Education Association during a ceremony in Seattle on Nov. 7. Photo courtesy of Delonna Halliday
“As an educator, my goal is that each student finds their creative strength,” she said. “It might be in coding, writing music, working with others, solving math challenges, or any of the traditional arts. I believe creativity can be taught, and it is our job as educators to create the fertile ground in which creativity can grow.”
Halliday said her mother encouraged her to be creative and try new things when she was growing up. As a student, Halliday explored ballet, acting and several musical instruments. She went into stage management while in college and worked in TV and movie production before she began teaching. Soon after, she and her husband spent time in China, where she taught English and discovered a love for teaching.
“When I started teaching at Grant, I had the opportunity to participate in Arts Impact,” Halliday said. “This training teaches teachers to infuse arts into the core curriculum. I loved the theater sections, and did my best with dance and visual arts.”
To further her opportunity for professional development, Halliday pursued National Board Certification through the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. The program didn’t offer elementary theater, so she pursued visual arts.
“Even after I did it, I didn’t consider myself any sort of artist,” she said.
After she’d become an administrator, turned to art during a stressful period. She realized she had been so busy that she hadn’t been creating anything.
Delonna Halliday paints a colorful water scene during an Art Battle competition. Halliday received the Supervision and Administration Art Educator of the Year Award from the Washington Art Education Association in Seattle on Nov. 7. Photo courtesy of Delonna Halliday
She taught herself to paint using watercolors in 2017 and has continued to learn and grow.
“At Discovery, I’ve encouraged staff to include arts in their instruction,” Halliday said. “We’ve also done Arts Impact here, along with staff at Purdy and Minter.”
In the past year, doctors diagnosed Halliday with cancer, which led to a leave of absence, but more painting. She painted as she sat in the chemotherapy infusion chair. She gave pieces away to nurses and other patients and even had her first art show, and sold quite a few pieces there.
Her tiny paint palette in tow, Delonna Halliday, principal at Discovery Elementary School, used her time in the chemotherapy infusion chair to create art pieces last year.
