CJH art students win 16 Gold Keys from regional Scholastic Art Awards

C.J. Hooker Middle School art students won 16 Gold Key Awards, 18 Silver Key Awards, and 30 Honorable Mentions at the regional Scholastic Art Awards under the guidance of art teachers Amber Brown and Michael Perez.

Student art was selected by some of the foremost leaders in the visual and literary arts for excellence in originality, technical skill, and the emergence of a personal voice or vision.

On average, more than 800 works of art are submitted by students in the region for the Scholastic Art Competition. Only two percent of the total submitted artwork is awarded, and less than one percent receive Gold Keys, which enter those students to compete at the national level.

“As teachers we are very proud and honored to have such dedicated and gifted students in our classes,” said Brown. “It is a great achievement and I hope this encourages our students to continue developing their artistic skills and achieve similar results in the future.

“Please join me in congratulating all of the talented students we have here at CJH!”

A painting of a bedroom: a bed with white sheets and pillows, wooden accents, and green leaves within and outside the room.
“Greenhouse” by Maggie Lu
A painting of a red candle with a red, orange and yellow flame flickering against a black background.
“Light in the Dark” by Amelia Arbizo
A sculpture of a bubble that looks like it is made of glass with bubbles in it. Light refracts off the surface and the sculpture sits on a wooden platform.

“The bubble” by Katherine Thornell
A person sits with legs and arms curled into their body, head tucked down, surrounded by pages of books, notebooks, and a laptop.
“What’s even the point?” by Lauren Henderson
A photo of yellow jellyfish floating in dark blue water.
“Golden Ghosts” by Maggie Lu
A photograph of a pink, orange and purple sunset is out of focus behind iron bars of some sort of balcony.
“Captured Radiance” by Kaylie Morbito

Gold Key Awards

Amelia Arbizo, grade 8

  • Nature’s Harmony, photography
  • Fading Beauty, photography
  • Tropical Toucan, drawing & illustration
  • Together as One, drawing & illustration
  • Light in the Dark, drawing & illustration
  • Ignorance, editorial cartoon sponsored by The Herb Block Foundation

Nathan Cubillo, grade 8

  • The Day the World Changed, architecture & industrial design

Lauren Henderson, grade 8

  • What’s even the point?, mixed media

Maggie Lu, grade 8

  • Hypocrite, drawing & illustration
  • Golden Ghosts, photography
  • Antelope, photography
  • Greenhouse, architecture & industrial design

Kaylie Morabito, grade 8

  • Captured Radiance, photography
  • Path to Beauty, photography

Katherine Thornell, grade 8

  • The bubble, sculpture

Julia Wilson, grade 8

  • Maui Fire, painting
A drawing of a self portrait of a girl with long dark hair parted in the middle and a smile that makes her eyes sparkle.
“Self-Portrait” by Amelia Arbizo
A colorful blue, gold, green, and red image of soldiers hugging each other behind two people shaking hands, wrists covered in a Palestinian flag on the left and Israeli flag on the right.
“the war in the middle east” by Bridget Pettus
Photograph of a night sky with stars and trees.
“Starlight” by Isabella Barbee
A painting of a skull with bloodshot eyes reading a book called "Chamber of Horrors" by Lauren Henderson, with an antique candle holder and book shelf in the background.
“Chamber of Horrors” by Lauren Henderson
Sculpture of what looks like a pink/red brain with blue liquid being poured out of a glass onto it and spilling below.
“Just Focus” by Sophie Marmo
A collage of a cat in front of a planet with a video game controller.
“Astronomical Gaming Cat” by Jayden Hopper

Silver Key Awards

Amelia Arbizo, grade 8

  • Street Lights, photography
  • Big Ben, photography
  • The Starry Night, photography
  • Kaleidoscope, photography
  • Enchanted Glow, photography
  • Self-Portrait, drawing & illustration
  • W14, drawing & illustration

Isabella Barbee, grade 8

  • Starlight, photography

Bella Gonzales, grade 8

  • Bella, drawing & illustration

Lauren Henderson, grade 8

  • Golden Hour, photography
  • Chamber of Horrors, painting

Jayden Hopper, grade 8

  • Astronomical Gaming Cat, painting

Maggie Lu, grade 8

  • Golden Waves, photography

Bridget Pettus, grade 8

  • Scary Dinosaurs, painting
  • the war in the middle east, painting

Jaxson Markiewicz, grade 8

  • Untitled #1, ceramics & glass

Sophie Marmo, grade 8

  • Just Focus, sculpture

Kaylie Morabito, grade 8

  • Kaylie, drawing & illustration
A painting of the silhouette of a girl surrounded by white flowers and a windy red and yellow Chinese dragon breathing fire from its mouth.
“The spirit dragon” by Bella Gonzales
A drawing of a cat skull against a white background.
“Skull of Felis Catus.” by Katherine Thornell
A drawing of the profile of a tiger's face facing to the right with a blue butterfly approaching to land on its nose against a beige background.
“Peace” by Amelia Arbizo
A mixed media art piece made of metal and objects in the shape of a tree.
“Electricitree Sr.” by Alexa Krabbe
A cartoon of a hungry homeless person sitting outside a brick building next to a sign that says "please help, starving, money/food" with people eating a Thanksgiving turkey inside saying, "I'm so stuffed!" and a list of tips to make Thanksgiving better on the ground outside.
“Hunger” by Kaylie Morabito
An image of black and white cartoon doodle background with a colorful orange basketball, dog with sunglasses, paintbrush, yellow symbol and soccerball. A boy with a camera that has the galaxy in the lens is in the front center.
“Doodle Camera Guy” by Maksym Zalusky

Honorable Mentions

Juliet Andryshak

  • Family, painting

Amelia Arbizo

  • The City That Never Sleeps, photography
  • Roman Forum, photography
  • The Eiffel Tower, photography
  • Coastal Beauty, drawing & illustration
  • Lost in Space, painting
  • Peace, drawing & illustration
  • Venom, drawing & illustration
  • Despair, drawing & illustration
  • Treasure from Trash, sculpture

Isabella Barbee

  • Blossoming Twilight, painting

Bella Gonzales

  • The spirit dragon, painting

Lauren Henderson

  • Whispering Woods, photography
  • Melting Conversations, editorial cartoon sponsored by The Herb Block Foundation
  • Starry Strings, sculpture

Elizabeth Johnson

  • Musicly Music, drawing & illustration

Alexa Krabbe

  • Electricitree Sr., mixed media

Maggie Lu

  • Looking back, photography
  • Nature, photography
  • Overhang, photography
  • Who knows, photography

Sophie Marmo

  • An apple for your teacher, comic art

Kaylie Morabito

  • Hunger, editorial cartoon sponsored by The Herb Block Foundation
  • Through the Lens, mixed media

Bridget Pettus

  • the freedom of the west, painting

Zara Singh

  • Drifted, drawing & illustration

Ashlee Smith

  • Self Hatred Will Ruin You, drawing & illustration

Amelia Thomas

  • Attending my own funeral, fashion

Katherine Thornell

  • Skull of Felis Catus., drawing & illustration

Maksym Zalusky

  • Doodle Camera Guy, drawing & illustration
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