March 21, 2017:

Two students have recognized as national medalists in the 2017 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Soham Khan, grade 12, won a gold medal for his critical essay, “Understanding the Bolshevik and Stalinist Revolutions through the Music of Shostakovich: A Music-Historical Analysis,” and sophomore Katrina Liou’s painting “Sardines” won her a silver medal. 

As a gold medalist, Khan is now eligible to attend the National Ceremony, held in New York City this June. Congratulations!

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Earlier this month, 60 Harker students were named regional winners in this year’s Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. The awards, founded in 1923, recognize the creative work of young people in a wide variety of visual and literary disciplines.

Students were successful in many visual arts categories. Senior Irene Bashar received an honorable mention in architecture and industrial design. Debarati Chatterjee, grade 11, won a Gold Key in printmaking and two honorable mentions in digital art. Cynthia Chen, grade 9, was awarded an honorable mention in photography, and Gwyneth Chen, grade 11, received a Silver Key in sculpture and an honorable mention in jewelry.

Sophomore Rithika Devarakonda won a Gold Key in drawing and illustration, while Elizaveta Egorova, grade 10, won a Gold Key in digital art. Senior Alexa Gross hauled in an impressive eight awards, including Gold Keys in digital art and jewelry. She also won two Silver Keys in photography and a Silver Key in art portfolio, as well as honorable mentions in printmaking, art portfolio and digital art.

Senior Jeremy Harari won a Gold Key for his entry in photography, and Susan He, grade 10, received two Silver Keys and an honorable mention for her works in drawing and illustration. Kaitlin Hsu, grade 11, won four Silver Keys – two each in the painting, and drawing and illustration categories – and an honorable mention in painting.

Sophomore Jason Huang’s two entries in the painting category won him a pair of Silver Keys, and Ashley Jiang, grade 11, had great success in the photography category, winning three Silver Keys and an honorable mention. Raveena Kapatkar, grade 12, received a Silver Key in painting and an honorable mention in photography. Another senior, Angela Kim, won three Gold Keys, a Silver Key and an honorable mention in the design category.

Senior Sarisha Kurup earned a Gold Key and a Silver Key in painting, as well as an honorable mention for mixed media. Meanwhile, senior Isabel Lai collected an honorable mention and a Silver Key in drawing and illustration. Chen Yu Li, grade 12, was a big winner in drawing and illustration, winning a Gold Key and four Silver Keys. In addition, Li also received honorable mentions in art portfolio and painting.

Junior Millie Lin picked up a Silver Key in photography, and Katrina Liou, grade 10, won Gold Keys in both painting, and drawing and illustration, as well as honorable mentions in comic art and painting. Sophomore Erin Liu’s entry in photography won a Silver Key, while juniors Matthew McCallaCreary and Alexandra Michael picked up honorable mentions in digital art.

Senior Alex Mo won a Silver Key in photography, and junior Brandon Mo received a Silver Key and three honorable mentions in the painting category. Junior Kaitlyn Nguyen won a Silver Key in drawing and illustration, while fellow junior Raveena Panja earned a Silver Key in drawing and illustration and an honorable mention in comic art.

Senior Grace Park had a great showing this year, winning a Gold Key in painting and a Silver Key in photography, as well as honorable mentions in painting, art portfolio, and drawing and illustration. In photography, senior William Park and junior Abha Patkar received Silver Keys. Junior Alisa Su won an honorable mention in drawing and illustration. Senior Marti Sutton was very successful in painting, winning two Gold Keys and an honorable mention. He also received two honorable mentions in art portfolio.

Sophomore Catherine Wang won four awards in drawing and illustration – a Gold Key, two Silver Keys and an honorable mention. Elizabeth Yang, grade 10, also had success in drawing and illustration, winning a Silver Key and an honorable mention.

More than two dozen students also were recognized for their writing talents. Cynthia Chen, grade 9, earned a Gold Key in poetry and an honorable mention in flash fiction. Emily Chen, grade 11, was awarded an honorable mention in personal essay/memoir. Gwyneth Chen, grade 11, received a Silver Key in poetry and Ishani Cheshire, grade 10, earned an honorable mention in science fiction/fantasy. Junior Amy Dunphy received a Gold Key for her entry in flash fiction, while freshman Avi Gulati earned an honorable mention in critical essay and Mahika Halepete, grade 9, won a Silver Key in flash fiction.

Jacqueline He, grade 11, won a total of eight awards, earning four Gold Keys in poetry, two Silver Keys in short story and additional Silver Keys in flash fiction and poetry. Junior Amy Jin earned a Gold Key in critical essay, Silver Keys in critical essay and personal essay/memoir and an honorable mention in journalism. Soham Khan, grade 12, received a Gold Key in critical essay, and junior Jimmy Lin won Silver Keys in critical essay and journalism. Millie Lin, also grade 11, won a Gold Key in personal essay/memoir and an honorable mention in critical essay.

Sophomore Erin Liu was awarded a Silver Key in personal essay/memoir, Annie Ma, grade 9, won a Gold Key in poetry and Kalyan Narayanan, also grade 9, received an honorable mention in flash fiction. Amla Rashingkar, grade 9, won an honorable mention in short story and a Silver Key in poetry, and senior Andrew Rule received two honorable mentions in the short story category. Kismet Singh, grade 9, earned an honorable mention in flash fiction and junior Sahana Srinivasan won a Silver Key in poetry.

Earning four awards, senior Meilan Steimle received two Gold Keys in short story and personal essay/memoir, a Silver Key in short story and an honorable mention in short story. In personal essay/memoir, Satchi Thockchom, grade 11, won a Silver Key. Grade 9 student Nellie Tonev received an honorable mention for her work in the poetry category, and Shania Wang, grade 10, won honorable mention in personal essay/memoir. Derek Yen, grade 11, was awarded a Silver Key in critical essay and an honorable mention in poetry, and sophomore Alexander Young received a Silver Key in poetry and an honorable mention in personal essay/memoir.

Katherine Zhang, grade 10, hauled in five awards, winning Silver Keys for short story and personal essay/memoir and honorable mentions for poetry and two journalism entries. Senior Tiffany Zhu received a Gold Key for poetry and a Silver Key for short story.

As Gold Key winners, Cynthia Chen, Debarati Chatterjee, Rithika Devarakonda, Elizaveta Egorova, Jeremy Harari, Jacqueline He, Amy Jin, Soham Khan, Angela Kim, Sarisha Kurup, Chen Yu Li, Millie Lin, Katrina Liou, Annie Ma, Grace Park, Meilan Steimle, Marti Sutton, Catherine Wang and Tiffany Zhu are now eligible to receive national recognition. National medal awardees will be invited to the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards national events in New York City.

Congratulations to all the talented students featured here!