Six student artists earn top national honors

Six UCS students were honored nationally for excellence in the visual arts, including the top award for the best mixed media project in the region.

The UCS students earned an American Vision award, two gold medals and three silver medals through the national Scholastic Arts Competition.

UCS students earned six of the 13 awards given to art students in the entire thumb region.

The top award, the American Vision honor, was presented to Carlie Gibson, a Utica High School senior for her mixed media work, Carlie and Joe. Her teacher is Jennifer Allore.

Scholastic judges also presented the following national awards to UCS students:

• Morgan Aho and Katelynn Lodge, of Shelby Junior High School, earned a gold medal for their film and animation project How Animals Were Made. Her teacher is Lisa Grunewald
• Noah Chapman, of Utica High School, earned a gold medal in photography for My Spidey Sense is Tingling. His teacher is Josh Etheridge.
  
• ​​​Michael Kramer, of Eisenhower High School, earned silver medals for two of his photographs - Peace and Anger. This is the third straight year Kramer has earned national honors for his photography. His teacher is Lisa Grunewald.
• Sarah Flanigan, of Stevenson High School, earned a silver medal for jewelry for Interwoven. Her teacher is Christina Dawson.
  

UCS students earned six of the 13 national awards presented to students in the Thumb region.

The National Scholastic Award ceremony will take place in New York City on June 11.

Students entered the national competition after earning Scholastic Arts Awards regional honors. This year, nearly 200 honors were awarded to Utica Community Schools students at the regional competition.