By Sonia Bhati ’14, Contributor
CCDS students had great success at Regional Scholastic Competition with work from eleven students going to NYC for the National Competition and earning several awards: One Photography Portfolio, 10 Gold Keys, 8 Silver Keys, and 11 Honorable mentions. Honors students in the Photo and Art classes submitted anywhere from three to eight pieces. A panel of judges evaluates student work by media and selects the best, technical and conceptual work to be submitted to the National Competition. Ms. Louise Hausman, Upper School Art teacher, believes that our students have had a lot of success at this competition because they are “technically smart from preparation in class and they are the best artists. There are over 7,000 entries to this competition from Dayton, Southern Ohio and Northern Kentucky.” She continued, adding that in this respect, attending a small school actually helps art students. “The bigger public schools are able to submit close to 100 entries. CCD students are able to exceed because they are not only focused in the studio but they also excel academically,” she said, beaming with pride. CCD has only been participating in The Scholastics Competition for the past 6 years, but clearly has been very successful.
AP Art student Yichen Dong ’12 submitted 8 pieces and won 2 Gold Keys. The winning media was a painting, which she has decided is her favorite media. One image was of an orange and the other was a self-portrait. “I guess I am improving!” Yichen said, as she had won 1 Gold Key last year. Yichen has loved art since she was little. She took classes outside of school until Middle School but had to stop when she had “too much homework.” At CCD, Yichen took Art I as a freshmen, skipping Art II and going straight to Honors Art as a sophomore. Next, Yichen will be submitting work to the Ohio Governor’s Competition, a Youth Art competition. Yichen hopes to keep Art as a hobby, if not a minor, in college. She looked back at her experience in the Arts program at CCD and said, “The school really helped in the competitions. I was able to have a different point of view on my work and Art in general.”
Julia Murphy ’13 is very pleased with her experience in the Arts program at CCD and hopes to continue. She said AP photo pushes her to think creatively: “It provides a nice way to switch gears in the school day.” Julia won a Gold key on an image from her summer project. She had more than a hundred pictures to choose from, but with the help of Art Department Chair and Photo teacher Carole Lichty-Smith and her classmates, Julia was able to narrow her submission to three images. Julia’s decision to pursue photography was out of interest: “I find myself more comfortable with a camera than with a pencil or paintbrush.”
Amelia Drew ’13 drew inspiration for photography from her dad. “My dad was my main inspiration for taking photography,” she said. “When I was a little bit younger he got this cool high-tech camera and I fell in love with photography ever since.” Amelia submitted five pieces to Scholastics from her annual vacation during the summer. Ms. Lichty-Smith had suggested that Amelia submit a collage because it would be different and thus stand out from the rest of the submissions. So Amelia sent in four collages and one picture. Amelia said the picture that she sent in was not hard to pick because it was “Hands down, my favorite picture I have ever taken!” This picture won a Gold Key. Amelia loves the Art program at CCD. “I love the teachers, how they teach and how much effort they put into the program just to help us learn.”
Kelsey Bardach ’14 won a Gold Key for an image taken during the LA photo trip. For Kelsey, deciding on an image to submit was difficult because she had taken over a hundred pictures. She ended up submitting her top three favorites. Kelsey’s experience in the Arts program has been “absolutely amazing! I have learned so much just in the past year and a half and I look forward to class every day to learn something new and exciting.” Kelsey was inspired to take photography because of her sister, Alyssa Bardach ’12, who had taken the course and loved it.
Congratulations to all the winners!
Gold Key Photography Portfolio: Emily Ashwell (her work will continue to New York City to be part of the National Scholastics competition)
Gold Key, single image: Amelia Drew, Abby McInturf, Emily Sprinkle, Yichen Dong, Kelsey Bardach, Sabrina Finn, Julia Murphy, Petra Palmer, and Charlotte Ward
Silver Key, single image: Katie Leonard, Amelia Drew, DeVere Highsmith, Chris Magarian, Katie Warwick, Sophie Weinstein, Meg Lazarus, and Petra Palmer
Honorable Mention, single image: Abby McInturf, Jonas Luebbers, Brian Burnett, Sabrina Finn, Jayne Lester, Timmy Macrae, Katie Warwick, Kelsey Bardach, Meg Lazarus, Avery Maier, and Allison Mesh.