Postcard hobby turns into Fayette high school fundraiser
Submitted photos
Out of 28 entries, five postcards were chosen for an unusual contest/fundraiser at Uniontown Area High School for the Class of 2023. Pictured are the five students whose cards are on sale (from left): Gabe Hostetler, Payton Hostetler, Dominic Scott, Nicholas Delpercio, Gracie Rodeheaver and the school’s digital media arts instructor Tammy Marzano.
Submitted photo
Nate Edenfield speaks to students involved in a postcard contest he helped start at Uniontown Area High School as the students took a walking field trip around Uniontown to take photos for the card designs. Five cards were selected and are on sale to benefit the school’s senior class.
A search for postcards in the city of Uniontown led to an unusual fundraiser for this year’s senior class at Uniontown Area High School.
Nate Edenfield graduated from Uniontown in 2014, and the pandemic caused him to remotely work his way across the country.
During that time, Edenfield picked up the hobby of purchasing postcards from the small towns he visited in his work travels. When he returned home to Uniontown, he searched for postcards to send to the people he met from those other places in the country.
However, his search came up empty, so he embarked on a new quest to see if someone was interested in printing postcards of the city.
He was directed back to his alma mater when he contacted Tammy Marzano, the digital media arts instructor at Uniontown Area High School, with an idea of a postcard contest and fundraiser.
“I loved his idea and quickly agreed to incorporate this project in my Photoshop classes and the digital media club,” Marzano said.
For the postcard contest, Marzano said she felt it necessary for students to take original photographs to use in their designs, so the class took two walking field trips.
The first trip was at the end of her first nine-week Photoshop class and the other at the beginning of her second nine-week course.
“We chose good-weather days before the seasons changed and made a loop around Uniontown, making stops at Bailey Park, Five Corners, Storey Square, the State Theater, courthouse and library,” Marzano said, adding that one student with a drone license took several aerial shots of Uniontown. “Students then created their designs using the Adobe Photoshop software and wrote descriptions for the back of each card describing, ‘What makes Uniontown, Uniontown?'”
Gabe Hostetler said he loves to create and give back to his community, so he found the experience of the contest more than enjoyable.
“I had a lot of fun seeing what I could create with the pictures I took,” he said. “Living in Uniontown for a while has given me great insight on what to find here and what exact places are beloved by the people.”
Taking first place in the contest, Gabe Hostetler said the hardest part was figuring out which pictures to use, as he already had an idea of what he wanted to do.
Coming in second place was senior Payton Hostetler, who was the student with the drone license (and not related to Gabe Hostetler).
“Creating a postcard to represent Uniontown was absolutely a challenge,” Payton Hostetler said. “Encompassing the significance and history of the city into a single card wasn’t easy, but it was a great experience that allowed new insight into what makes the area so valuable.”
“Many students remarked about the beauty or interesting things that they noticed while taking the time to stop to take photos,” Marzano said. “The opportunity for students to work on a real-world project and the fact that these cards will be sent across the country and maybe around the world is so exciting.”
While he did go along on the walking field trips to send students on a scavenger hunt at the George C. Marshall Plaza, Edenfield said his duties for the project was more of an administrative one, as he found sponsors to cover the cost of printing the postcards as well as area businesses to sell the postcards.
The students had a month to produce their cards, and Edenfield said a total of 28 postcards were submitted to the contest in early December and judged by the faculty and staff of the Uniontown Area School District, leaving five postcards to be printed and sold.
“It was a good response,” Edenfield said, adding they received over $1,000 in sponsorships from area businesses, which are displayed on the back of the cards. “There were a lot of good entries.”
So far, Edenfield found six places in Uniontown where the cards are being sold, including The Fayette Chamber of Commerce, Gallery 86 sponsored by the Uniontown Art Club, Get A Hobby!, Goodie Girls Cake Shoppe, Hixenbaugh’s Drug Store, Yesterday’s Today. More locations are expected to carry the cards.
Postcards are available to purchase online at https://forms.office.com/r/gSRxkEYmmb or by visiting the district website www.uasdraiders.org. Cards are 75 cents each or $3 for a bundle of the five different designs.
Because the biggest expense for the senior class is prom tickets, all proceeds from the sale will go toward lowering the ticket costs for prom for the Class of 2023.
Edenfield said any money raised after this year’s senior class graduates will be carried over to next year’s senior class.
“Maybe they will continue the contest for each class,” Edenfield said, sending a shout-out to the students as they produced great work.
“I’m really impressed with the work they did,” Edenfield said. “The work they did was better than the many I’ve seen in my travels. It was everything I could have hoped for and more.”
Marzano said it was a pleasure to work with Edenfield, and said they had discussed doing a second project that focuses on other points of interest in Uniontown.
“I never had the opportunity to have him in class but certainly covered many of his achievements and accolades in our school newspaper,” she said. “He was very involved in the Uniontown High School community as a student and the fact that he continues to reach out and influence current students is no surprise.”