Students’ creativity showcased nationally

Niles, Ridge artists earn Scholastic awards

Two local high school seniors have earned national recognition for their artwork at the national Scholastic Art competition.

Delaney Grubbs, a senior at Niles McKinley High School, and Kaitlyn Samuels, a senior at Mineral Ridge High School, obtained the top honors.

Grubbs, 17, said last year she had art pieces entered in the Scholastic Art northeastern regional show and earned honorable mention. This year, she entered several pieces and received the Gold Key National American Vision Award and two Silver Key awards and several honorable mentions.

She said the Gold Key piece titled "The Next Step" went to the national competition and was done in blue and pink ballpoint pens with a painted background.

Niles High School art teacher Laurie DeLucia said seven pieces by Grubbs were included in her portfolio for the competition.

She said the American Vision Award is best of show and it's being shown in New York.

Grubbs plans to attend Youngstown State University to study biology and forensic science.

At Mineral Ridge High School, Samuels, 18, was the first art student from Mineral Ridge to receive a Gold Key national medal award at the Scholastic competition. She received a Gold Key award at the regional event at Youngstown State University.

Samuels' untitled piece is a photograph of colorful fabric.

Samuels said she was surprised when she learned she had received the Gold Key award for her work selected from 260,000 entries. Samuels, who has been in art classes for four years, had her piece showcased at the national level.

Mineral Ridge High School art teacher Julie Edwards said she is proud of Samuels' success.

Samuels had her work showcased at the school's recent art show, which also included work she did on Nepal when Edwards was in the country in March for a college graduate class.

Edwards said Samuels and other art students made postcards to send to children in Nepal. They, with help from Edwards, in return made postcards for the Mineral Ridge students.

More than 100,000 students across the country submitted 260,000 art pieces to Scholastic Art competitions. Selected pieces were recognized for their excellence in originality and technical skills.

Christopher Wisniewski, executive director for Alliance for Young Adults, said fewer than 2,000 works received national medals, which is 1 percent of all selected pieces.

Since 1973, Scholastic Art has celebrated the work of teen art students nationwide.