The art department at Fairfield Jr./Sr. High School had quite a 2023-24 school year. As a fitting end of the campaign were a trio of awards at the national level to celebrate a truly banner year.
To preface, Fairfield received a school-record 104 Gold Key Awards from the Scholastic Arts and Writing organization, which spotlights excellence in art creation in both creative and functional essence. Significant in that amount is it nearly doubled the previous record (53), which was attained just a year prior. The breakdown for the awards were also notable, as the organization awarded Fairfield 26 Gold Keys (Fairfield record), 31 Silver Keys (Fairfield record) and 44 Honorable Mentions (Fairfield record) PLUS two Gold Key Portfolios to Lee Rodman and Katie Todd, and one Silver Key Portfolio to Todd. The Gold Key Portfolios were the first-ever won by any Fairfield artist.
The Gold Key Awards are then judged at the national level, and three Fairfield students were recognized nationally for their work.
Keira Johnston garnered a Silver Medal Award along with the New York Life Award for her comic series called “The View Within A Memory”. The New York Life Award is given to 10 students nationally from a pool of over 300,000 applicants who incorporate coping with grief and loss in their presentation, and the award carries a $2,500 scholarship attachment. Johnston noted earlier this year about her direction for the series, involving the spirits of loved ones who aren’t around to see the present, and how it affects the future.
“I pride myself on my comic work because I’ve spent so long developing it. It’s my career choice, but I didn’t think I’d win an award for it,” said Johnston, who spoke candidly about her work to the Fairfield Community Schools board members and administration Thursday evening. “My whole mentality was I hope it pulls through. I hope people see what my vision was and read it and are touched by it. This was never created to win awards. If this wos anything, I knew that I can go anywhere with my work. I know that I can make an impact and help others.”
Johnston mentioned the scholarship money will help her along as she will attend Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids, Mich., this fall to continue her creative writing and graphics work.
Liz Cunningham won a Silver Medal Award for her art piece titled “Imagine”. A thoughtful overlay of a general image of a person with a mache of personal symbolism, Cunningham noted the work took several weeks to complete, but was very happy with the result. And the award was a cherry on top.
“It was the middle of the summer, why would I check my emails,” Cunningham noted following the board room appearance Thursday, starting off how she found out about the national award from Fairfield art instructor Wendi Sparks. “I go into the emails and there’s an email from Sparks and she said go to the Scholastic website. I go through and I find my name and my piece, and I’m like, ‘oh my gosh!’ I would have never thought my work was that good, and wouldn’t have seen it if she hadn’t told me.”
Lily Thieszen, who was not present at the board meeting, was also celebrated for winning a Gold Medal Award for her writing called “Finding Your Star”. A story in dealing with the development of life and how to later deal with grief and death, Thieszen had no shortage of content per Fairfield english teacher Megan Davidhizar, who represented Thieszen at the meeting. Thieszen was out of town serving as a summer camp counselor. Davidhizar pointed out Thieszen had compiled over 40 pages of content for the Scholastic contests..
Sparks represented Johnston and Cunningham at Thursday’s recognition. As the longtime art instructor looked on with pride as the two went over their work, she left the two with hugs as they were celebrated as national medalists.
It was quite a year for art and writing at Fairfield, one certainly worth celebrating.