The Scholastics Art and Writing Awards are part of an art contest held in various regions of the United States, catering to skilled high school artists and creators. In every art class on the West Forsyth campus, teachers encourage their students to submit their works into this competition for the opportunity to win awards, known as keys, from this competitive, rigorous contest.
Scholastics awards can be won at a regional and national level. However, some may have more of a challenging competition for these awards due to their region.
“There are different categories in terms of the different art styles, then we submit them [art pieces] to our region. Our region is within the Southeast, which is tough to be in with Charlotte and other Mecklenburg schools. But once you win a gold or silver at the regionals, those move on to the national level, and the national level is every regional gold and silver in the country. So we’re in the big pool of all high school students who have exceptional work, so it’s an extremely high honor to receive it [national award],” art teacher Elizabeth Betson said.
In West’s case, three students: Chloe Randell, Caitlin Leonard and Kaloma Davis Jr., all won national awards for their artworks, placing them among the United States’ highest-ranked participants.
“I’m very proud of our students, that just shows their hard work and dedication to prepare and plan the process to create artwork. It is a very high level to achieve that, only the top three percent of high school students achieve that,” Betson said.
“It’s a great feeling to see your students get such high recognition for their work. I know they do a fantastic job, but to get the National Award is just a unique award and honor for students. Our students are so talented, it makes me so proud,” art teacher Nathan Newsome said.
Chloe Randell 
After celebrating a win on her way back from a volleyball game in her junior year, Randell captured a moment in time by taking a picture of her friend and fellow teammate Jordynn-Rai Koger. She then transferred that photo into an oil painting named “Emergence,” an art piece about the joyfulness and positivity after a game.
When she heard that she had won a National Silver Key, Randell felt thrilled, as it was a goal of hers for many years.
“I was really excited about it because it’s always been something I’ve strived for since hearing about the competition in the first place. In freshman year I got an honorable mention and in sophomore year I got a gold and silver key in regionals, so to receive a silver national award meant a lot to me,” Randell said.
Caitlin Leonard
When Leonard was in her junior year of high school, she was tasked with making a hyper-realistic self portrait in her proficient art class. With her graphite piece “Incessant Distractions Keeping Me Out,” she went on to win a National Silver Key. As for her art piece, it depicted her struggle of making hundreds of other pieces just to find solace in one of them.
“It feels satisfying to win the award because I thought the art piece was good. But seeing that I won the award makes me feel even better because the judges thought it was worthy of winning something,” Leonard said.
Kaloma Davis Jr. 
In Davis’s sophomore year of high school, he was tasked with the same assignment as Leonard. However, after his original idea for his art piece wasn’t working out, Davis came up with a few ideas last second before he went to bed. Upon showing them to his art teacher, Newsome, he was instantly told that “this was the one.” Even before working on his piece, Davis considered it challenging for him as an artist, but fulfilling overall after his artwork “Awestruck” then went on to win a Gold Key in the National and Regional Scholastics.
“When I found out that I won a gold key in not only the regional awards, but the national awards too, I was shocked. A little while after my portrait was displayed at the Mint Museum, my teacher called me back to his classroom and told me that in all the years he’s been teaching, I am the second student to ever win a gold key in the national awards. It really meant a lot to me, I’ve been drawing for a long time and I don’t even know how many times I’ve said a drawing was bad, but this accomplishment has really shown me how far I’ve come,” Davis said.
The accomplishment of these three Titans has been popular around campus, with all their art teachers praising them for their hard work. Make sure to congratulate them for their dedication and commitment for their awards and encourage them to improve and create new art pieces.
