Nine students from the Socorro Independent School District won honors in the 16th annual El Paso Community College K-12 Art Exhibit. Three SISD students earned first place.
The students competed among 1,000 entries. Thirty-four awards were given in the annual contest that is coordinated by EPCC’s Salute to the Arts program.
“Socorro does very well,” said Janine Rudnick, special assistant to the president, who is in charge of the Salute to the Arts. “This is a big show. We get entries from more than 91 different teachers in the region. Students can enter any kind of art they want to bring.”
El Dorado High School and Desert Wind School placed two and three students in the contest, respectively.
Alyssa Sepulveda from El Dorado received a Division IV First Place in the sculpture category for her work “We Can Make a Difference,” which features all recycled items made to look like a colorful peacock. Her classmate, Miriam Calzada, took the Division IV EPCC Art Student Society award for “The Enchanted Rose” piece.
“This is an especially hard competition to place in since they only give out a handful of awards amongst hundreds of entries,” said Candace Printz, an art teacher at El Dorado High School. “I am so proud of them.”
Desert Wind teachers and administrators were delighted by the three students who placed at this year’s exhibit. First place in the Division III 3D category went to Alice Valdez for her “Grizzly Roar.” While Kevin Cadena took a Division III EPCC Art Student Society award for his “Mr. Octo” and Clara Pena earned a Division III Honorable Mention award for her “Memory Capturer” piece.
“Wow! I am so excited,” said Patricia Franco, Desert Wind principal. “My art teacher, Karen Perez, has done a phenomenal job at extracting the talent from her kids. She provides them those opportunities so they can show their talent and shine. They have learned to love art and to love using their imagination to create these amazing pieces. It’s great.”
Other Team SISD winners included Eastlake High School’s Alondra Gonzalez, who won a Division IV First Place in Technology-Assisted category for her “Maya and Christine,” a photography and computer-generated piece.
Haley Sifuentes from Socorro High School was given a Division IV Honorable Mention for “Golden Retriever” piece. Kate Hernandez, a student at John Drugan Elementary, was awarded the Division I EPCC Art Student Society award for “Pigs,” and Damian Macias, from Campestre Elementary, took home a Division I Honorable Mention for “Winter Freedom.”
“Huge congratulations to Alondra and all of the other winners,” said Claudia Castañeda, an art teacher at Eastlake. “The event had some amazing artwork.”
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