Oak Hill Student Wins Zachary’s Jewelers Design Contest

Sloane DeCosmo gave her mom a special gift this Mother’s Day, courtesy of Zachary’s Jewelers. The Oak Hill Elementary fifth-grader was one of three finalists in the store’s jewelry design contest.

She made it past the semifinal round, which included 28 fifth-graders. Zachary’s not only made the winning designs into jewelry, but the store also donated $500 to the art programs at the finalists’ schools.

Participating students across Anne Arundel County were asked to sketch a piece of jewelry on paper for their mom or caretaker. They had to use color and label the parts and materials (for example, sterling silver, rose gold, white gold, yellow gold). Then, they included a few sentences explaining how their jewelry design represented the special mom in their life.

In a letter to Zachary’s Jewelers, Sloane wrote, “As you can see, there is my mom’s birthstone, ruby, on the outer heart, then in the inside heart it has my dad’s, brother’s and my birthstone in the middle heart. This shows my family’s love for my mom and how we will always be in her heart and love her forever. Lastly, my mom would absolutely love this piece of jewelry and wear it all the time. So it will always remind her of how much we love her.”

Three winning designs were made into a real piece of jewelry, presented to the winners’ moms or caregivers just in time for Mother's Day. Zachary’s judges notified finalists with an invitation to brunch at its downtown Annapolis location on May 5.

The other two finalists represented Windsor Farms Elementary and St. Mary’s.

Sloane’s mom, Christy, was proud of her daughter. She shared a Facebook post that read, “Sloane’s artistic talent continues to amaze us! I’ll never forget this very special day with my very special girl! She poured so much love into her design and I can feel every drop of it in my heart! I’m so very proud of her and I’m one very lucky mom!”