Groton Artists Earn 67 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards

Thirty-three Groton students have won sixty-seven Scholastic Art & Writing awards this year, including eighteen gold keys, the highest regional honor.

Colin Kim ’23 won a gold key for his design project “Heifer Hut,” which was named the region’s Best in Category (Architecture & Industrial Design). He also earned silver keys for his design project “Astrobode” and short stories “Nowhere Man” and “Doomsday.”

Paopao Zhang ’24 won three gold keys for her mixed media artwork “I Miss You” and paintings “Yes, Me” and “Yearn.” She received a silver key for her illustration “Shattered Trust” and honorable mentions for her digital artwork “Patrick?” and mixed media artwork “It’s Empty.”

Each of the award-winning works captivates with creativity and ingenuity. “There is a reason why art is so fascinating to the human mind,” said art teacher Jennifer Ho. “When words fall short, art is both a catalyst and result of our ideas, how we think, and the things we cannot say but yearn to. Because of how immediately art is consumed, to create art is to be brave, and that is what our students are.”

Winning gold keys for both art and writing, Amy Ma ’23 earned recognition for her editorial cartoon “Presidential Circus” and her short story “A Fine China Vase.” In addition, she received honorable mentions for her drawing “Ocean's End,” mechanical artwork “The Great American Paradox,” and editorial cartoon “Still Finger Lickin’ Good?”

Noemi Iwasaki ’22 earned a gold key for her personal essay “Admetovis Icarus” and silver keys for personal essays “An Analysis of Fatigue” and “A Letter to my Grandfather.” She also received an honorable mention for her animated work “Scritch.”

Mei Matsui ’23 also received three keys—gold for her drawing “Fall Upon Thorns” and silvers for her drawing “That Demon, Sleep” and poem “Aphrodite and Adonis.” Her poem “A Tall-ish Stranger's Insect Lullaby” received an honorable mention.

Several other students were awarded multiple keys. Among them were Alisa Gulyansky ’24, who earned a gold key for the short story “Her Life was Art,” a silver key for her poem “Grammar Rulebook,” and honorable mentions for her poems “A Story to Call Your Own,” “Bundle of Joy,” and “Trompe L'oeil in Reverse.” Allison Jiang ’22 received silver keys for her personal essays “Finding Chinatown” and “Counterpoint” and an honorable mention for her poem “Waigong's Pomegranate.”

Pauline McAndrew ’26 was awarded silver keys for her poems “A World So Plastic it Shines” and “Chau’s Story.” Joon Whang ’23 earned a gold key for his critical essay “The Scarlet Letter: A Parable on Absolute Truth” and a silver key for another critical essay, “The Handmaid's Tale: A Study on the Dehumanizing Chasm of Time.”

Nineteen additional students received writing awards, and six more earned awards for their visual art. Earning gold keys in writing, in the short story category, were Joy Cao ’24, Isabella Gardiner ’24, Ebunoluwa Lawore ’24, and Ellie Smith ’24. Gold keys for science fiction/fantasy went to Benjamin Reyes ’23, Zhihan Zhang ’24, and Zhining Zhao ’23, who also received an honorable mention in science fiction/fantasy.

Winning silver keys were Michelle Ha Jung Kim ’23 (flash fiction), Sophia-Nicole Bay ’23 (science fiction/fantasy), and Xiangyu Pei ’22 (personal essay). Sophia and Xiangyu also received honorable mentions, Sophia for a short story and a poem and Xiangyu for a personal essay.

Other students whose writing received honorable mentions were Sara Agrawal ’25 and Alicia Guo ’24 (critical essay); Holly Bradsher ’26 and Julie Xie ’23 (poetry); and Cameron Cunningham ’24, Jessica Lee ’24, Georgia Martin ’24, Agathe Robert ’24, and Eleanor Taggart ’24 (short story).

In visual art, additional gold keys went to April Li ’24 (for her painting “Addiction”) and Ava Meyer ’26 (for her photograph “Pathway”). Ava also received an honorable mention for a photography triptych. Silver keys went to Julie Xie ’23 (printmaking) and Brianna Zhang ’23 (drawing). Zimo Liu ’24 received two honorable mentions in photography, and Joy Cao ’24 received an honorable mention in drawing.

“Their works of art represent the burning of midnight oil, a desire to speak truth into existence—and to shift our heads ever so slightly,” said Ms. Ho. “Their recognition from the jurors reflect how, suddenly, their artwork has the ability to control time—when it has felt like time has escaped us—to take a pause and look closely, allowing the viewers to reflect and inspire themselves.”—Christopher Temerson

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