Two Sacred Heart Schools eighth graders win Scholastic Art Awards

Sacred Heart Schools, Atherton (SHS) eighth graders Anna Perone and Sophie Xie have been awarded “Silver Key” prizes for their entries in this year’s Scholastic Art Awards in the Bay Area region.

“This is very exciting news, as this is a very competitive award,” said SHS Middle School Art teacher Lauren DiCioccio. The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards is the nation’s longest-running, most prestigious recognition program for creative teens. This year, over 6,700 students from across the Bay Area region in middle and high school submitted entries.

Perone was acknowledged for her ceramic work, A Shoe for the First Female Eagle Scouts, and Xie for her work titled, Wish I’d Never Grown Up.

Describing her creation, Perone said, “I made my work to represent the first female Eagle Scouts because I am also a scout, and they are role models that allow me to be successful in scouting today.” Her piece is a ceramic hiking shoe decorated with emblems for each of the ranks in scouting.

Speaking about what inspired her piece, Xie said, “I wanted to draw a girl that was feeling nostalgic. I, myself, felt like I was growing up so fast, and I wanted to portray that element of melancholia.”

Both artworks were created in DiCioccio’s Advanced Studio Art class, an elective available to eighth graders. Gold- and Silver Key-winning works were exhibited in San Francisco in April at The Nave Gallery at the California College of the Arts.