RRVWP: #NathanKurtti

Today we begin a series of Friday blogposts about our Scholastic Art & Writing Awards Winners. The Red River Valley Writing Project partners with Plains Art Museum to serve as the state affiliate for North Dakota.

Davies High School (Fargo) 11th grader Michelle Chadraa at the 2017 Awards Ceremony

In Arduis Fidelis, Lamentation of Hope, Regrets of a Martyr (or: Artifice)

Chadraa, Michelle

Grade: 11

School: Davies High School, Fargo ND

Educator: Nathan Kurtti

AWARD: Silver Key

In Arduis Fidelis

I thought I saw a marigold
growing in my neighbor’s garden
But I must’ve been seeing things because it’s the
dead
of
winter.

Tinny screaming of shriveling plants and strangled insects
frittered in the background, drowned out by hungry vampiric gusts,
lost in the incessant moanings and groanings of the frostbitten Mother Earth.

RRVWP TC Nancy Devine was the featured speaker, all photos by NDSU student Guo Chen

Young Artists and Writers Recognized by Plains Art Museum and Red River Valley Writing Project for their Original Works

Plains Art Museum and Red River Valley Writing Project at NDSU have announced the regional award recipients of the 2017 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Presented by the nonprofit organization, the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards are the country's longest-running and most prestigious scholarship and recognition program for creative students in grades 7–12. This program year, more than 330,000 works of art and writing were submitted to 118 Affiliate regions across the country. In North Dakota, about 400 works were submitted—double from the previous year. Eighty-three creative teens from around the state of North Dakota received regional honors, including Gold Keys, Silver Keys, Honorable Mentions, and/or American Visions & Voices nominations, from the local Affiliate including:

Art Award Winners

· Katelyn Arman, Fargo North High School, Fargo. American Visions nominee, Gold Key, Two Honorable Mentions.

· Kaylee Bartram, Kindred High School, Kindred. Honorable Mention.