Freshman Lon Wright is a 7-time gold key winner in the Scholastic art awards.  “My inspiration for this piece was the feeling of lying on a couch alone with your thoughts, afraid of what America’s future may be,” Wright said.  This award-winning piece conveys the stress marginalized groups may be feeling during these times.  Wright included many symbols to give a deeper meaning to the painting.  An upside-down American flag represents the current state of division and hatred taking place in our nation,  a tipped-over potted plant represents the brokenness and fragility of our country, and the grayness of the background symbolizes feelings of gloom and despair.  Wright won two gold keys, as well as the American Vision Award.  For now, Wright is hoping to make it to New York for a national medal. 

Gracie Rosette has won her first gold key for her photography piece. “My future plans are to hopefully go into nationals for my piece in New York,” Rosette said. Her piece speaks on mental health. Her wish is for people to be more open about speaking out about it and not having it turn into the new norm. “Even the most unlikely people can suffer through mental health, and even just talking about it can save someone,” Rosette said. It took her about four hours for each piece.  There are a total of six pictures in her portfolio. 

Kyndra Jones is a first-time gold key winner for her Studio art piece about Crohn’s Disease as a teen.  This is also her first time entering anything related to Scholastics. “My future plans are to review my existing pieces to inform future pieces to complete my portfolio in preparation for the high school art show in April,” Jones said. Jones was influenced by the “Pop Art” style of art, which she was hoping to make a big impact with.  She’s considering keeping up with doing art in the future as well as in college. 

 Junior Logan Lash is a first-time gold key winner for his photography piece. “There wasn’t really a definitive inspiration, I try to be as original as possible,” Lash said. He has been interested in photography for about six years and received his first camera five years ago. As of now, Lash is waiting to see the results of the national competition, hoping to receive another award. 

Junior Halle Speelman is a first-time gold key winner.  “Whenever I was volunteering at a museum I would drive past the same bridge every day and so I just wanted to depict that because I saw it a lot,” Speelman said. She has newly discovered her interest in art and hopes to get more experience with it in the future.

Freshman Olivia Brill is a first-time gold key winner. “I just hope to enter more pieces through the things that I make at home,” Brill said. Brill says art teacher Jill Balerson was teaching them a still unit which gave her inspiration for her piece. She doesn’t have a certain message in her piece but wants people to express what they see and feel. It took her about two weeks to create this, after being interested in art since she was little.

Junior Nina Brown is a multi-gold key winner. She hopes to enter more pieces and get scholarships.  “My (inspiration) came from the ocean and Tiffany stained glass. I tried to incorporate both of these things within my piece,” Brown said. Brown explains how she started her piece later than she should have so she had to be more in a rush trying to complete the piece which, she was able to do. “It took around 3-4 weeks while I was working on it,” Brown said. 

Senior Madelyn Groninger has recently won her first gold key for her photography piece as well as her first time submitting anything to Scholastic. “I plan on going to Bowling Green to get a degree in graphic design,” Groninger said. Groninger’s piece was taken by an accident when she was hoping to be able to get a photo of her dog nudging the door open, so she was very stunned to be able to win this Gold Key. “My goal for this piece is for it to resonate with its audience that good things are coming,” Groninger said. She got into photography in her junior year hoping to grow her graphic design skills. 

This is the first Gold Key that Isabella Nagy has won.  Nagy won for her portfolio about women’s objectification. “It’s personal to me because it affects me and all of the women in my life,” Nagy said.  There were a total of six pieces in her portfolio.  Nagy used mostly mixed media in creating her pieces but did incorporate woodworking, fabrics and oil paints as well. “I felt I had very strong themes that were very apparent (in my portfolio),” Nagy said.  Nagy believes she spent about 10 hours on each of her six pieces that were submitted.  Next year Nagy is thinking of majoring in art in college.