A mob of nearly 70 sixth, seventh and eighth graders stormed the sidewalks of Marshall Academy of Fine Arts last Thursday for the third annual Chalk the Walk for MS contest — a friendly competition at the Fifth Ward magnet school geared towards raising awareness of multiple sclerosis as the Houston area preps for this weekend's MS Walk events.

"We have 14 teams this time, making this our largest group yet," Chandel Bonner-Hancock, the school's visual arts coordinator, told CultureMap as kids rushed to put the final touches on their projects.

"You'd be amazed how strategic they are about picking teams. One kid may work well with large-scale drawings, while another may be a colorist. They all know each other's strengths and weaknesses, so they're able to form groups that work well together."

This year's participants were asked to interpret the theme "MS draws us together," leading to an array of brightly-colored projects stressing notions of unity in the battle against multiple sclerosis, which affects more than 22,000 Texans and 400,000 Americans nationwide. In the weeks leading up to the competition, students were educated on the effects and impact of the debilitating disease.

"When we visited classrooms in October, a lot of the kids already knew a lot about MS," explained Cammy Lopez Hazim, a development manager with the National MS Society, the organization behind the annual Walk events. "After working with Marshall for three years, it's great to see how well the message is reaching the students."

Yours truly, Tyler Rudick, joined KHOU Ch. 11 reporter Lily Jang and the Houston Chronicle's Joy Sewing for the challenging task of selecting the best three drawings, based on creativity, craft and theme.

In the end, our judging panel chose for third place a bold piece by the North Side Friends team — Abigail Garcia, Angelina Sosa and Yuliza Lara —with second place going to a team known as the Last Kings that featured Cristian Villanueva, Amir Villanueva, Hunter Valle, Jose Rios and Leslie Fraire.

For the second year in a row, the Better Than That Team — comprised of eight-graders Carlos Robles, Yulissa Guzman, Marisol Calderon, Jacob Sepulveda and Raul Santoyo —walked away with the top prize. The team received a $150 gift card to Texas Art Supply.

For those interested in raising multiple sclerosis awareness, the MS Walk: Houston kicks off at 10 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 11, outside Robertson Stadium at the University of Houston. Sugar Land also hosts an Walk MS Saturday, starting at 9 a.m. in Sugar Land Memorial Park. A special MS Walk: Kemah will take place on Nov. 17 at 215 Kipp Ave.