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Area students win big in scholastic art and writing contest

5 min read
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Lyssa Current, a senior at Charleroi Area High School, stands by her fashion collection, “Recess,” which won a silver medal in the national Scholastic Art and Writing competition.

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Elijah Porbin, a seventh-grade student at Avella Junior Senior High School, received a gold medal in the national Scholastic Art and Writing competition for his photograph, “Possum.”

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Lyssa Current’s “Cuddly Coat,” a fashion piece created from her old stuffed animals, received an American Visions Medal in the national Scholastic Art and Writing competition.

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Lyssa Current learned about electrical wiring and used Lite-Brite pegs to create her “Lite-Site” goggles.

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David North, a senior at McGuffey High School, received an American Voices Medal in the national Scholastic Art and Writing competition for his personal essay, “Personality pH.”

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Sasha Edwards, a junior at Washington High School, won a gold medal in the national Scholastic Art and Writing competition for her poem, “Opera Ethereal.”

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The photograph “The Woods,” taken by Washington Junior High School eighth-grader Noelle McKinney, received a silver medal in the national Scholastic Art and Writing competition.

Lyssa Current had to destroy part of her childhood in order to give it new life. She raided crayon boxes, tore into stuffed animals and disassembled Barbie dolls. After a yearlong effort, she not only tapped into her “inner child,” but also created a national award-winning fashion collection.

“A lot of memories were jarred with the ‘Cuddly Coat’ … because every piece of material on that is made out of stuffed animals,” Current, a senior at Charleroi Area High School, said about a piece in her ”Recess” collection.

“Part of me is crying inside, but the other part of me is so inspired and wants to keep making this coat. It was a very exciting part of the series to just relive that part of my childhood.”

Current is just one Washington County student who received a national award in the prestigious Scholastic Art and Writing competition. Other winners hail from McGuffey High School, Avella Junior/Senior High School and Washington Junior/Senior High School.

Current, 18, of Charleroi, received an American Visions medal for “Cuddly Coat,” meaning her piece was deemed the best of the nominees in her region. Scraps of material from her childhood stuffed animals were sewn together in a quilt-like fashion. She also received a silver medal for her entire “Recess” collection made from old toys that were tucked away in boxes for years.

It was her first national Scholastic win. She won a regional award last year, but was not selected to continue. The initial letdown did not deter Current, who stands out for her quirky style and half-brown, half-black hair, split right down the middle.

“She completely went back to the drawing board – or sketch books,” said Charleroi art teacher Patrick Camut. “It wasn’t even a week after we got the news of the denial, and she already had the sketches for the (“Recess”) portfolio that won the silver award.”

In addition to “Cuddly Coat,” her vision included a “Razzmatazz” vest made from crayon wrappers, a necklace made from toy cars, a bonnet made from Barbie parts, a poncho made from rubber ducks and a shower curtain, and a bead maze accessory. It also included pieces that were more technically difficult to create, including Lite-Brite goggles that become illuminated and a “Tu-Tu Train” outfit with a battery-operated train that circles the skirt’s rim.

Through trial and error, and a few lessons in electrical wiring, all of the pieces came to fruition.

“She probably blew out three or four LEDs trying to figure out how to get everything right,” Camut said of her “Lite-Site” piece.

Current was accepted into the Tyler School of Art at Temple University in Philadelphia, where she plans to study fine arts with a focus in fibers and materials.

While Current was the only local student to win an award for fashion, others were recognized for their exceptional work in writing and photography. David North, a senior at McGuffey High School, received an American Voices Medal for his personal essay titled “Personality pH.”

In the five-page essay, which was initially for a college application, North outlined his “method to express personality in terms of pH levels,” and he did so in the punniest of ways.

“It makes me feel more in my element to use lighthearted jokes. I hope you don’t find them prephosphorus,” he wrote in his essay. “If you do, I apologize for your sulfuring.”

North, 18, of Claysville, said his goal was “if nothing else, just to make someone laugh.” He said he enjoys writing and finds inspiration in the absurd. And he must have made the college application judges at University of Chicago laugh because he was accepted. He plans to study astrophysics there in the fall.

Sasha Edwards, a junior at Washington High School, received a national Scholastic award for her poetry for the second year in a row. This year, her poem “Opera Ethereal” won a gold medal.

“The disposition of any constellation is evident in the coming of lightning bugs: swarming in galaxies luminescent, and painting an ode to their astral muses at dusk,” reads one stanza.

Edwards, 16, of East Washington, said she loves to write about people and nature, and she wanted to capture the beauty of the transition from spring to summer. She was inspired by fireflies, crickets and other sights and sounds she observed on a late June evening.

“I had my window open, and I was just listening to the sounds outside and watching the sunset,” she said.

Also hailing from Washington School District, Noelle McKinney, an eighth-grader, received a silver medal for her photograph “The Woods.” The photo depicts two pairs of legs in red and black boots dangling over a wall.

Art teacher Debbie Mainwaring said McKinney, 14, of Washington, was walking around with friends when she snapped the winning shot.

“For once, they weren’t taking ‘selfies,'” she joked. “They were looking at what’s on the other side of the camera.”

Elijah Porbin, a seventh-grader at Avella Junior High School, received a gold medal for “Possum,” a photograph of a furry creature he saw while visiting Good Zoo at Oglebay in Wheeling, W.Va.

Porbin, 12, of Avella, said he enjoys wildlife photography – a hobby he learned from his father.

“I’m definitely sticking with it,” he said about photography.

Art teacher Jessica Miller said Porbin was the first Avella student of any grade level to receive a gold medal in the Scholastic competition. She described him as a “very intelligent and very self-motivated” student whose photograph shows “impressive detail.”

National medalists are invited to attend events and an award ceremony in New York City taking place June 10-12.

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