At BVH, there are several courses students can take to explore their artistic ability and express themselves through creativity. Advanced Placement (AP) 2D art and design and Career Technical Education (CTE) digital photography teacher, Edwin Lim encourages BVH students to take these opportunities and enter contests to showcase their talents. The most recent contest he promoted is the National PTA Annual Reflection Art Contest where students were given the prompt “I am hopeful because…”. Three BVH students received the San Diego County Award of Merit, senior Milla Kay, junior Michelle Gallardo and junior Destiny Ramirez.
This is Lim’s second year encouraging his students to participate in the contest whether they know about the contest prior or not. Since this contest allows a variety of art expressions, Lim pushes students to enter into a category they are already familiar with.
“There’s some kids that are photographers, so I encourage them to do a photography submission. Three students did visual art and lastly [Ramirez] did a literary submission both in English and in Spanish since she is bilingual,” Lim said.
Ramirez decided to explore the literature category, Lim has never formally had a student enter into that category of the contest prior. She created a poem inspired by the prompt that incorporated her culture and family. Ramirez also included real world issues within her poem such as families who are separated at the United States-Mexico border to express her hope for better outcomes. She explains the process of making the poem over a period of time.
“At first it was a little hard because it was difficult to start. But then once I started writing it, I felt more confident in it and tying it into things that I know in my culture and values. It got easier because I was able to just put words all together and make a short poem,” Ramirez said.
Ramirez’s submission earned first place for San Diego county and is now being recognized to compete as a California finalist. Ramirez expresses what receiving these titles mean to her and how they will help her.
“It is good for me and it means a lot to my family. They wanted the poem to be recognized and I ended up getting a scholarship and awards. My family thought that it was pretty meaningful that I was able to spread the poem and since it was in Spanish, I was able to spread it through my native language,” Ramirez said.
Similarly, Gallardo is also being recognized like Ramirez but through her photography submission. Her photograph was of her great aunt on a cruise ship in the Caribbean for her 80th birthday. Gallardo reflects on how meaningful it was to be able to capture this photograph and use it for the contest.
“Initially when I first uploaded the photo to edit it, it made me cry. It was a very emotional experience seeing my great aunt being so carefree, so joyful at such an old age. We still talk about it in my family, they all love the meaningful, sweet and joyful photo,” Gallardo said.
Gallardo holds a unique trait as photography is something she participates in outside of the classroom. She volunteers at her local church to take photographs along with doing photography sessions in her free time. Wanting to pursue a career in photography and achieve a minor in photo-journalism in the future, Gallardo shares what Lim encouraging these contests allows for students like her.
“It really gives me a name. It gives me the opportunity of people knowing my name, my work and being able to expand in the educational world,” Gallardo said. “This all goes to my college applications and my personal degree. All of this work that Lim does for us counts. It makes a big jump in our college applications because we have experience with [photography].”
The third BVH student that won is Kay, she is being recognized for her submission of visual art. She used acrylic paint and a canvas to create a painting of a young girl in a dress, running towards stars. Kay describes her creative process of how her art relates to the prompt.
“It relates to the theme because how I interpreted it is that I have a lot of dreams and goals in life. Stars usually represent goals, and since she’s rushing into this cloud of a bunch of stars, it represents how the future is ambiguous. But we still strive because we’re hopeful,” Kay said.
Although Kay is still unsure if she wants to pursue a career in the arts, she considers how these contests and art submissions will look good on her portfolio or resume if she ever decides to become a technical artist or attend an art school. For now, Kay enjoys creating art in her free time and not only for expression.
“Sometimes the art has no actual meaning and I think that’s okay. This time I tried to apply the meaning of hope throughout my piece. But, sometimes I just paint because I think it’s pretty or because I want to give a gift to someone,” Kay said.
Lim holds several opportunities for his students to join contests like these and announces them months prior. He also allows students to take advantage of the two hour class periods to choose, edit and submit their art for these contests. Lim additionally helps motivate students by making them aware of these fulfilling opportunities.
“What he really does is just letting us know, ‘Hey, who wants to participate [in this contest]?’. That’s his very famous saying, to not stick in a little box. He just pushes us forward and helps us by giving us the opportunity to expand,” Gallardo said.
Lim’s encouragement leads his students to both win scholarships and earn recognition throughout the county. Kay has also participated in several other contests like the Cesar Chavez art contest where students are able to win up to 500 dollars in scholarships.
“I feel entering these art contests help me explore my art abilities more and what I’m capable of. Sometimes I just do art purely for the fun of it but at the same time, I feel there are skills that help me and guide me through some of the things I want to do,” Kay said. “That’s why I feel entering these art contests is extending my capabilities to the most extent.”
On March 12, Gallardo and Ramirez will be recognized at a reception for being California finalists. Gallardo explains why students at BVH should take the opportunity to participate in contests like these as it helps motivate them in their expression of art.
“It’s definitely a push forward, gives me confidence and a lot of self-worth to be validated which is a very big thing to all of us. So, having people I love and people that don’t know me well equally love my art is something so great,” Gallardo said. “ I’ve had a photo in a museum before and people just come to me and say this means so much to them. This [contest] reminded me that having people connect to your artwork is a reward.”
