District 214 community awards students for their art and writing
Students and members of the community were honored for their contributions to the arts at the annual Northwest Suburban High School District 214 Arts Unlimited reception on Wednesday.
Winners of the Community Art & Writing Contest in poetry, prose and visual arts were also announced during the celebration. This competition, co-sponsored by the Daily Herald, allows adults in the District 214 community to put their arts to the test, too.
Some of the winners were new to the contest.
"I wanted to see what my writing could do, if it had the potential," said Maria Anton, a senior at Hersey High School who won first place in the Prose competition for "Figs," a short story based on her experiences visiting her grandparents in Greece.
Anton said she is planning to major in mechanical engineering in college, but enjoys writing as a hobby.
Bill Leece, who judged the prose competition, said reading the entries was like listening to great pieces of music.
"The winner was like jazz, it had a lot of words I hadn't expected and it was a delightful piece of music," said Leece, a former Rolling Meadows teacher. "I loved listening to that music, it was an honor to be a judge."
Matt Stricker's "Self Portrait" - a picture of himself looking distressed - won first place in the visual art category.
"I like that I can spend a lot of time putting my heart and soul into something and it can come out beautiful for other people to enjoy," Stricker said.
Stricker, a senior at Rolling Meadows High School, will be studying art at the Milwaukee School of Art & Design next year.
Many of the winners were surprised by their success.
"I'm so excited and shocked and very proud to have been selected," said Toni Louise Diol, an Arlington Heights resident who won first place in poetry for her piece, "The Scent of Rain."
The Community Arts and Writing competition is part of the larger 39th annual Arts Unlimited celebration for students of art, literature and performance in District 214.
The night featured arts from all six of the district's high schools.
The Arlington Heights Art Guild was named the 2015 Friend of the Arts and the organization honored two District 214 students, Jared Nichols and Andre Marin, with scholarships.
"The talent of the students in this school district is just amazing," said Superintendent Dave Schuler. "We have a 100-year-old tradition of supporting the arts in this district and I can guarantee we will continue to support them for at least the next 100 years."