It took none by surprise at Mishawaka High School (MHS) when the school, once again, received one of the highest number of awards from the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards featured 100 schools in the region, and over 65 students won awards within the art category alone; along with three more students awarded for their writing.
Among the art submissions, 21 students were awarded the highest level award, the Gold Key. A Gold Key is the highest level award and is only awarded to 5-7% of regional submissions; those awarded with a Gold Key are all automatically considered for national level recognition. Senior Ariana Levy earned two Gold Keys, and senior Clara Sergeant earned three.
The Scholastic Creative Writing Club, sponsored by Randy Ebright, has also been hard at work putting together their submissions. Seven students from the club submited work, three of them recieving a total of eight awards.
Katherine Hill won two Gold Keys for her works, “Pillars Falling Down” and “A Confessional: Physicality and Intuition”; along with an honorable mention for her short story “That Jane from Maine”.
Emma Parsons won a Gold Key for her personal essay “A Home That’s Meant to Be”; and Silver Keys for “Lord of the Flies: An Accurate Representation of the Harsh Reality of ‘Idealistic’ Freedom During Adolescence as Says Jean Piaget’s Cognitive Development Theory.” and “Gifted”.
And finally in the writing category, Jade Rogers, who was awarded a Silver Key for “Sister Sister, How I Miss You” and an honorable mention for “Secret”.
“Seniors Bowen Basker, Bailey Darnell, Alyson Maassel, Clara Sergeant, and Cecelia Urbanski won numerous awards with a strong showing of talent and hard work,” stated Ryan Sergeant, MHS art teacher.
In an interview with MHS Newscast, Bailey Darnell explained their experience with the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, “It wasn’t a long and tedious process I needed to go through; it was just some papers I needed to get signed by my mom, and [Sergeant] took care of the rest, which was nice.”
Sergeant said, “The students are handling the art work load with their regular classwork load just like any other year. However, being back all live may have given us a little bump. We keep due dates reasonably flexible in the art department which helps students manage their art production time.”
Darnell agreed, “Balancing school and art is hard; it just depends on what I’m in the mood for. I’ll usually be doing art, but when I’m feeling productive I’ll start working on school work.”
Many teenagers and adults alike can struggle with balancing their passion and their responsibilities; winners of the Scholastic Art & Writing Award are no different. What is vital is to find a happy medium between the different aspects of your life, and prioritize the approaching deadlines.
Virtual awards ceremonies being held on February 12th at 11 a.m. and March 12th at 5 p.m.. To view the virtual awards ceremony please visit https://southbendart.org/event/scholastic-art-awards-virtual-ceremony to register for this free event.
