Scholastic Art and Writing Awards: 47 students recognized in 2023 competition

courtesy of Kasie Yang

Senior Kasie Yang’s sculpture “Quarantine Lifted,” a part of her portfolio which won a gold key.

Many students enter the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards competition — dubbed “the nation’s longest-standing, most prestigious recognition program for creative teens” — every year. 

Of the thousands of students across the Bay Area who entered the competition this year, 11 Saratoga High students received regional writing awards and 41 received regional art awards. Those who earned gold keys were automatically advanced to the national competition.

Writing award recipients included freshman Jane Lee; juniors Maithreyi Baharathi, Lynn Dai, Sanjoli Gupta, Xiaoran Li and Anais Sobrier; and seniors Christina Chang, Channie Hong, Dyne Lee, Shannon Ma, Carolyn Wang and Adam Xu.

Inspired by her own experience learning music, Dyne Lee wrote a flash fiction piece titled “Imperfect Authentic Cadence” about a high school senior’s experience with her teacher during her last piano lesson before leaving for college. The piece earned an honorable mention.

“The title refers to a type of cadence in music, which is a sequence of chords at the end of a phrase,” Lee said. “It’s based partly on my experiences learning music since elementary school and also my mixed feelings as a senior getting ready to leave home in a few months.”

Despite the challenge of being limited to 1,000 words while also staying true to the spirit of flash fiction, Lee said she was still able to express the characters’ emotions by drawing from her own experiences.

“I wasn’t expecting to win anything because this was my first time submitting to a writing competition, but I also wasn’t too surprised because I’ve worked on fiction writing and improved a lot this year in Creative Writing,” Lee said.

A number of students also won art awards, including freshmen Nicole Hao, Jena Lew, Amy Miao, Celina Ren and Daniel Yu; sophomores Aiden Chen, Michelle Ho, Solbee Lee, Timothy Leung, Zozan Liao, Amy Pan, Natalie Poon, Anushka Tadikonda and Samyuktha Tundlam; juniors Maithreyi Bharathi, Lynn Dai, Danni Deng, Sanjoli Gupta, Kayla Jung,  Isabella Kelly, Andrew Lin, Angela Luo, Eric Miao, Hannah Shaw, Eric Shi, Anais Sobrier and Angela Zhao; and seniors Samika Agarwal, Jenny Chan, Christina Chang, Channie Hong, George Huang, Carolyn Pyun, Apoorva Talwalker, Liya Wu, Adam Xu, Kexin Yang and Carina Yee.

Kasie Yang said she found inspiration for her pieces through lots of experimentation.

“One time, I saw a toilet seat and I thought it looked a lot like a purse. So, I put a logo on it and wore it like a purse out on the streets,” Yang said.

This was submitted as part of her AP Art portfolio last year, and upon submitting it to the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, earned her a gold key. She also received honorable mentions for two sculptures, also from her portfolio: “Sweet Memories” and “Quarantine Lifted.”

“Sweet Memories” is a bike sculpture covered in gummy bears of all different colors and uniform size around the plastic frame of a bike. It is meant to provoke a nostalgic feeling of childhood memories. The pedals and handles were covered with blue gummy bears, while the seat, gears and wheels had none at all. 

“Quarantine Lifted” was another life-sized sculpture made of wired mesh in the form of a body sitting down with the right leg crossed over the left. At first, it was just another experiment in which Yang tried to create something large using wire. After crafting it, Yang decided to carry it downtown to take photos in well-populated areas, such as cafes.

“At first, it felt awkward to be carrying such a large thing around. People were looking at me, but it was also amusing to see people’s reactions,” Yang said. 

Yang remembers one group of people who came up to her and thought the sculpture looked very “really cool.”

“I think art is able to break the boundaries between people. Sometimes you can create really interesting things from messing around with random objects,” Yang said.