The Scholastic Art & Writing Competition is an honored and esteemed arts competition held annually across the nation. Students enter submissions in a wide variety of writing and visual art competitions. The Vision earlier reported on the students who were honored regionally for their writing submissions, but today the Mississippi School for Math and Science discovered that two of its own were recognized nationally, an honor only 2,400 received out of 320,000 submissions.

Senior Justin Calhoun was honored in the visual art competition for his painting “Emmett is the Catalyst.” His teacher, Angie Jones, said it is no surprise to her that Calhoun was recognized: “I knew from day one that Justin had great potential in the field of art. He worked hard to achieve his goals with high expectations.” Jones also said that he has completed two drawing and three painting classes in his four semester here, and partially attributes his success to his unique style, which she calls, “realism with a twist of symbolism.”

Justin says that his work served a purpose and sent a message: “For this piece I wanted to bring attention to the ongoing problems that African-Americans have faced since the civil rights era. Emmett Till was the first to come to mind. His death garnered millions of blacks and whites alike to bring attention to the cruel ways of the Jim Crow South. For the work itself, I wanted to bring vibrant colors that commemorated Emmett. For that I used purple and blue, colors of nobility and power.” He cited Jean-Michel Basquiat’s thought provoking and political works as an inspiration. Calhoun also expressed his happiness at being recognized, saying, “It makes me feel like my art truly does have a meaning, and my work is not going unnoticed. Winning this award lets me know that I am being heard,and if I’m being heard so will the issues that I emphasize.”

Also honored was senior Joy Carino who was nationally recognized for her senior portfolio for writing. The senior portfolio category is a notoriously tough one, as it asks for the bulk of the student’s artistic forays. Carino’s Creative Writing II teacher, Emma Richardson, echoes Jones when she says, “I’m not surprised that Joy’s “Writing Portfolio” won a National Medal. Not only does she have innate talent, she works hard at the craft of writing.” Richardson is especially impressed with the amount of works Carino submitted: a collection of poetry, three personal essays, a short story, a work of “flash fiction” as well as a science fiction/fantasy piece. Richardson believes that great artists find that it is not by luck or happenstance when someone is this good at art, saying, “[Ben] Jonson asserts that ‘a good poet’s made, as well as born.’ In other words, a person who is an accomplished writer–such as Joy–is willing to keep practicing and refining and editing her writing–whether that writing is in the form of poetry, fiction, or ‘creative non-fiction.’”

Carino, however, cites the people around her as her driving force and inspiration: “My greatest influences include the people around me, usually my family (including my extended family living the Philippines), my friends and my two little sisters.” Carino says that along with the people close to her, she also writes about topics such as homesickness, both for Starkville and the Philippines, as well as people such as her piano teacher and strangers on the street. Carino is excited for this recognition, but not for her own achievement, saying, “It makes me happy to know that my family, my neighbors and my piano teacher were appreciated by someone in New York.”