Seven Belmont Student Artists Recognized With National Honors

Andy Warhol, Sylvia Plath, Truman Capote, Richard Avedon, Robert Redford and Joyce Carol Oates.

Those are just a few past winners of the Scholastic Art and Writing competition, now in its 90th year honoring the most talented students across the country in the arts. 

On Monday, six Belmont artists and a poet – three from the Chenery Middle School and four hailing from Belmont High School –  were recognized nationally in the 2013 Scholastic Art and Writing competition, which is the greatest number of honorees for a public school system and only surpassed by Cambridge private school Buckingham Browne & Nichols with 10 awards.

Two students, the High School's Samantha Xu and Julia Siegel from the Chenery, are gold medal winners which represents the most outstanding works in the nation.

The seven Belmont awards winners:

Belmont High School

• Kimberly Paquette, 10th grade, "Reaching" (Category: Art, Painting), Awards: Gold Key/Silver Medal

• Talin Tahajian, 11th grade, "Chrysanthemums," "Of Blood and Butter," "The time is ticking," "A Beautiful Commotion," "Carrion" (Category: Writing, Poetry)
Awards: Gold Key/Silver Medal

• Amy Wang, 10th grade, "Wang In A Blanket" (Category: Art, Painting)
Awards: Gold Key/Silver Medal

• Samantha Xu, 10th grade, "Royal Flush" (Category Art, Painting)
Awards: Gold Key/Gold Medal

Winthrop L Chenery Middle School

• Hayoung Jo, 8th grade, "Untitled" (Category: Art, Drawing)
Awards: Gold Key/Silver Medal

• Paul Roche, 8th grade, "Six Eye Portrait" (Category: Art, Drawing)
Awards: Gold Key/Silver Medal

• Julia Siegel, 8th grade, "Indigo with Flower Pot" (Category: Art, Drawing)
Awards: Gold Key/Gold Medal

Siegel and Wu, as National Gold Medalists, will be publicly recognized at a ceremony at Carnegie Hall on Friday, May 31.