Middle and Upper School students rise to the top in the Regional and National Scholastic Arts & Writing Awards and Visual Art Awards.

Spartan artists and writers are celebrating exciting results they earned during competitions at the Scholastic Arts & Writing Awards and the Texas Art Education Association Visual Art Scholastic Event (VASE). These experiences allow students to display their best work, receive constructive feedback and have it judged by panels of professionals.

Scholastic Arts & Writing Awards

Among many regional honorees from the Middle School, Bashir Dergham ’30 advanced in the writing category to earn national recognition in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. His deeply personal memoir “A Dollar for a Lightbulb” earned a Silver Medal, and chronicles the loss of his grandfather who was a great inspiration to him.

“I was pretty excited,” said Dergham. “It’s one of the first times I’ve won something outside of sports, and it was surreal.”

The 7th grader originally wrote the memoir as an assignment in Mr. John Keyes’s English class during the fall term. Mr. Keyes challenged his students to explore a meaningful personal memory and write with a balance of “telling and showing.” Mr. Keyes advised his students to use straightforward, in-the-moment narration to establish what was happening in the story, imagery and dialogue to bring scenes to life, and moments of stepping back to reflect as a more mature narrator. In his story, Dergham builds toward a symbolic moment where the narrator offers a final gesture of gratitude and farewell: placing a dollar on his grandfather’s grave in memory of their running joke about leaving the lights on. Mr. Keyes described Dergham’s work as “emotionally honest, lyrically written and structurally thoughtful.” 

“Being awarded a national Silver Medal is a huge honor, and it reflects the originality and heart Bashir poured into this piece,” said Keyes.

In addition to expanding his writing skills, Dergham says the exercise opened his eyes in other big ways.

“My writing and the writing of my peers showed me that I wasn't the only one going through something or losing someone, and I learned it was okay to be sad because of that,” said Dergham.

Read Dergham’s memoir: “A Dollar for a Lightswitch”

Julia Garcia ’26 earned a national Silver Medal for her short story “A Space Between Heartbeats,” which grapples with the difficult end-of-life question of when to stop life-sustaining treatments and transition into focusing on the quality of life. Garcia was inspired to write it after going through a deeply personal and emotional family experience surrounding the death of her uncle, who died of glioblastoma, a form of terminal brain cancer. 

“I vividly remember the familial difficulty of having to talk about when to shift from curative treatment into hospice care,” said Garcia. “On some level, it almost felt like admitting defeat, even though rationally we knew it wasn’t, and that ‘giving up’ was the farthest thing from our minds — but just the thought made the decision all the more difficult.”

Garcia says writing the story came naturally, and it was incredibly satisfying to step into "the flow," which was both therapeutic and energizing. She is grateful for her village of cheerleaders, including St. Stephen’s instructors, who have supported her through this entire process and always encouraged her affinity and love for writing. 

“I think Scholastic reflects a high standard of creativity,” said Garcia, who scrolls endlessly through the nationally awarded entries online in her free time. “It’s super refreshing to see student work at such a high level because it never fails to both inspire and encourage me in my own writing.”

Read Garcia’s short story: “A Space Between Two Heartbeats”

Jasper Oehler ’28 earned a national Silver Medal with his editorial cartoon sponsored by The Herb Block Foundation titled “Dysphoria." Oehler says the piece was inspired by the struggles of trans youth.

“As a trans guy, I have faced quite a bit of criticism and I felt the need to illustrate it,” said Oehler.

The outcome of the competition also opened Oehler’s eyes.

“I was surprised to get a national award considering this piece isn’t my best work,” said Oehler. “This has helped me broaden my horizons when it comes to making art as well as show me what makes an impact on people.”

Visual Art instructor Elizabeth Zepeda is proud of and excited for every student who entered their work in the regional competition, which catapulted some to the national spotlight. 

“Every year you have these amazing seniors graduate, and you're thinking, how could I ever top this group of seniors?” said Zepeda. “And then here comes students like our freshman [Jasper] who is just a constant creator.”

Student success takes teamwork across the Middle and Upper School Visual Art program. Zepeda commends Middle School art instructor Michelle Avery for helping students build a strong foundation and a space for students to create, collaborate and receive feedback. In the Upper School, even with space limitations in the art classroom, Zepeda has created a professional studio-like environment for seniors, allowing them personal space to work continuously, fostering a sense of ownership and creativity. She says this setup inspires underclassmen, who see the progress and dedication of their peers. The open, flexible space also encourages students to embrace their art skills across different courses. 

“They come in sometimes during their off periods,” said Zepeda. “This is their sanctuary, if you will. This is their space where they can come in and create for themselves and for their other courses.”

FULL LIST OF WINNERS

Congratulations to the following students who medaled in the Scholastic Art & Writing National competition:

National Gold Medal Winners for Art
Leela Weisser '25, “What do Mothers want to see in their Daughters Reflections” (Expanded projects category)
Charlsie Yarger '27, “Many as One” (Printmaking category)

National Silver Medal for Art
Jasper Oehler '28, “Dysphoria” (Editorial Cartoon sponsored by The Herb Block Foundation)

National Silver Medal for Writing
Bashir Dergham '30, “A Dollar for a Lightbulb” (Memoir)
Julia Garcia '26, “The Space Between Heartbeats” (Short Story)

We also want to recognize all Middle School students who received regional Scholastic Writing Awards:

Gold Key and American Voices Nominee
Bashir Dergham ’30, "A Dollar for a Lightbulb"

Silver Key Winners
Val Dussaq Suarez, "Halloween Candy"
Harper Lipman, "Ms. Holiman's Last Chapel"
Elizabeth McDaniel-Chang, "Reaching One Hundred"

Honorable Mention
Niamh Caselli, "The Rain on My Parade"
Allie Nelson, "A Foam Cube"
Dune Reid, "A Stranger's Epistle"

Read more about the Regional Scholastic Arts awards here.

TAEA Visual Art Scholastic Event (VASE)
More than a dozen St. Stephen's Middle and Upper School students competed in the Texas Art Education Association Visual Art Scholastic Event (VASE). The annual competition aims to recognize exemplary student achievement in the Visual Arts by providing art students and programs a standard of excellence in which to achieve.

The following Middle School artists took home 12 Gold Medals and four Platinum Medals in the Jr. VASE competition:

Niamh Caselli ’30
Sofia Cheeran ’31
Aspen Gipprich ’29
Maya Lawrence ’29
Nico Moroz ’29
Brody O'Sullivan ’31
Dune Reid ’30
Eva Shapiro ’29
John Skoien ’30
Alice Xie ’31

View winning St. Stephen's Middle School artwork

The following Upper School students medaled at the VASE Region 13N event:

Austin Chiu ’26
Elinore English ’27
Justine Jeong ’27
Jasper Oehler* ’28
Scarlett Ratcliff* ’27
Alex Sa ’27
Malak Al Waili ’26
Alex Vokes* ’26

*These students had art advancing to the State VASE.

Jasper Oehler ’28, advanced & medaled at state 
Scarlett Ratcliff ’27, advanced to the state
Alex Vokes ’26, advanced & medaled at the state

View winning St. Stephen's Upper School artwork.

To learn more about the Arts programs at St. Stephen's click here.