A variety of opportunities exist for art students looking to expand their artistic skills and gain experience including the Scholastics Art and Writing contest. 

Junior Ace Atkinson, a former participant of the Scholastic Art and Writing contest, uses art to address wider global issues. 

“Some of them can have a really good theme where it’s like, how to change the world, climate change, and our effects on the world, and I feel like that is a good issue that art contests can raise awareness for,” Atkinson said.

Art students from grades 7-12 can enter the 28 different categories of art and writing in the Scholastics contest. It is considered to be a great opportunity to present a person’s art or writing with the chance to win an award certifying a person’s skill in the art world.

“You need to be committed if it’s something serious, but if it’s something fun, then everyone can do it. Anyone and everyone should do it,” Atkinson said

 “So far I only have one submission, but I’m going to do several. The one that I’ve done was for my Graphics class. It is a digital piece with one of my friends posing under an umbrella and it’s purple-y,” Atkinson said. “It’s for an assignment called ‘Head in the Clouds’, and it’s supposed to represent isolation and trouble focusing and alone, just by yourself.

Art teacher Meredith Snyder encourages student participation in the contest which is sponsored by the Visual Arts Center. 

“We are lucky enough to have a local area that’s willing to represent the Scholastics. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t get certificates and a ceremony for Scholastics,” Snyder said. “They also judge, and then the winners go on to the national level. 

Snyder, an enthusiastic advocate for visual arts, helps students better themselves and their art. 

“You have to be willing to put yourself out there and take some losses, and not get so upset that you stop submitting your work to things because you’re gonna lose more than you win,” Snyder said. “You have to have endurance, and you have to get used to the word ‘no’ to be successful.

The art submission process for Scholastics includes making an account on the Scholastics art and writing website, artandwriting.org. To submit an entry, students should upload a picture of their original artwork and fill in the corresponding application. To complete the submission, applicants must pay a fee of $7 for each submission. Interested students should submit their work to artsandwriting.org by Dec. 10, 2020.