This year 39 pieces of art were submitted to the statewide competition, Scholastic Art Awards. 23 out of the 39 pieces were accepted into the competition. 13 students received Scholastic Awards. In 2022, there were six students who received awards. This years award winners were; Carlos Carrasco (Drawing Honorable Mention), Jesus Chavez (Drawing Silver Key), Victor Chavez (Sculpture Honorable Mention), Vivian Fuentes (Fabric dye painting Honorable Mention), Brenda Gallegos (Fabric dye painting Gold Key), Yessica Garcia (Drawing Honorable Mention), Bela Jedlicka (Drawing Silver and Gold Key), Piper Lefdal (Gold Key Portfolio and two individual Gold Keys as well as three Honorable mentions), Bonnie Mejia (two Honorable Mentions for Drawing), Maximus Morgan (Drawing Silver Key), Ghislane Rodriguez ( Fabric dye painting Silver Key), Haley Salgado (Drawing Honorable Mention and Gold Key), and Aivlis Serrato (two Silver Keys in Drawing). Art submissions were made under the guidance of Michael Trotter, the Art teacher at Schuyler Central High School. Mr. Trotter has been teaching for seven years at SCHS.

Piper Lefdal, a senior at SCHS, was one of the Scholastic Art Award Winners. Piper dominated with a Gold Key Portfolio (6 artworks viewed together) and two individual Gold Keys as well as three Honorable Mentions. “This isn’t the first time I’ve received an award, but it’s the first time I’ve received this many,’ shared Piper. When Piper found out that her art had placed she felt like all her hard work had paid off. Piper started her project as something fun, but then ended up spending most of her days working on it after school so she could complete it before the deadline. Piper felt like her art was placed higher than other students across the state because she worked with familiar textiles and she was confident in her work. If Piper had to give advice to a beginner art student who was interested in submitting their work for the Scholastic Art competition, she would tell them to go for it because “all art is good art.”

Jesus Chavez, a junior at SCHS, was another out of many that received an award. Jesus received a Silver Key in drawing. This isn’t Jesus’s first time receiving an Art award. Jesus competed one time before this and received an Honorable Mention. When Jesus found out his art placed he was happy because it was an improvement from the last time. Jesus thinks his art placed higher than other students across the state because of the hours he poured into his art. If Jesus had to give advice to a beginner art student who was interested in submitting their work for the Scholastic Art competition he would say, “Make sure you hand in multiple art pieces to increase your odds of actually winning something.”