End of year 13

 It's the end of year 13 teaching for me at Topeka High.  Currently the kiddos are finishing up their review days and taking their last finals as they head off to enjoy summer break after a school year of fun, creating connections, and doing amazing things.  The seniors have graduated and are preparing to take off on their new journey, while the underclassmen are are already starting to fill out their roles for next year when they come back.  A perfect time to reflect on all the great we did, and look forward to what the future holds; because I am fortunate that when I ask "How can it get better, what is next?", more amazing things happen with my students and their talent. 

Second semester started off fantastic with almost all of the Photo 3's from the first semester coming back, and those that graduated at semester were replaced by just as equally talented kiddos; bringing the total to 33 fantastically creatively motivated kiddos to I was ecstatic to help mentor, express their creativity, and build their portfolios. 

We also started the semester off with the Scholastic results.  This year, 2,200 students submitted artwork to the Northeast region of Kansas, with 490 receiving awards.  Twelve photos were a part of those 490, ranging from Honorable Mention to Gold Key.  Topeka High received 7 Honorable Mentions, 2 Silver Keys, and 3 Gold Keys.  The Silver and Gold Key winners then received a variety of scholarship offers and cash prizes. Here are the Gold Key Winners photos. 

Cortlin Kral

Tarrin Redding

Barry Smith

You can view all the Topeka High Scholastic award winners HERE.  The Scholastic students were also featured on WIBW's Good Kids Segment, which you can view HERE.  The key winners and I also drove down to Wichita in FeBRRRuary to deliver their artwork so they could be a part of that, and see where their pieces would be hanging. 

March brought two events for the photo kids to be a part of.  The first was our annual showing in March at the Noto Arts Center.  They have a lovely back room that allows space for not only Photo students, but students from all the Art Media taught at Topeka High to participate.  They also then get to see what it is like for their artwork to be a part of the First Friday Art culture we have in Topeka.  

March Noto show helpers

March show at Noto

The second event of March is the Youth Art Showing at the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library.  This event allows each Art teacher in the state of Kansas to pick one art piece to represent them.  This year I chose Connor Allen.  As a student he has been great at pushing his portfolio and his creativity, and I thought that he had a photo that was unique to Topeka, that could also represent it well.  Not only did I choose him to represent me, that also got the attention of Good Kids at WIBW again and he was featured on the news, which also helped to bring attention to the Art show at the library.  You can watch his segment HERE. 

Connor Allen - Youth Art Month Photo

After our two events in March, we had our annual show in April held at Matryoshka Tattoo.  They have a fantastic edgy display that once again allows students in a variety of media to show their artwork.  This was the 9th consecutive year they have opened their doors to Topeka High Art students and graciously not only let students show and sell artwork, but to be a part of the First Friday experience.  Next year will mark 10 years, a Decade that Topeka High has shown at Matryoshka and participated in First Fridays in the Noto Arts District, and we look forward to many more years of support and showing with them. 

April at Matryoshka

April at Matryoshka

Even though most people are looking to the end of the school year in May, the Art Department is still busy accepting awards, hosting art shows, and getting ready for summer art showings.  We started the month off by hosting our 3rd annual Glow Show First Friday.  Every year the Glow show gets glowier and glowier, the students creating out of this world artwork that reacts to black lights that fill the small gallery.  While at the same time, the main gallery is filled with final projects of the school year, a culmination of the hard work that has been created through the year by the advanced students of each media at Topeka High. 

Glow Show in small gallery

Glow show student

Shortly after the First Friday Glow Show, the Art Department was very proud to find out that Cooper Martin's picture of a buffalo at dawn was picked to represent Derek Schmidt's office for the 2025 Congressional Art Competition.  This photo has been shipped to Washington D.C. where it will reside in the Cannon Tunnel of the nation's capital for a year to be viewed by tens of thousands of tourists, members of congress, and distinguished visitors. 

Cooper with framed photo

"Beast at Dawn"

As the Art Department is winding down for the school year, we still had one event to prepare for.  With a variety of artwork collected throughout the school year, it was time to have it judged for the Fiesta Art Show.  Joey Rocha, the curator of the Fiesta Art Show came to Topeka High's gallery, and with his help we picked out 8 pieces of Topeka High student work that we thought would be well received for the show, for our 2nd time getting to be part of such a prestigious community event.  We look forward to seeing you in July for this show!

AM'yah Wallace-Morton

Connor Allen

Liliana Ferrer-Escalante

Sitting here, writing all this is great review for what has been accomplished this past year.  It is also helpful to help inspire those budding student artists for next year.  We talk about what students and the program have accomplished, and what students and the program still want to accomplish, which brings into focus goals that some of us didn't even know could be accomplished. let alone aspire to.  It is also something important for me, to help focus on all the greatness that is achieved by these amazing young artists, whom I am honored to mentor and watch become their best selves.  Another year with amazing students, another year accomplishing amazing tasks and goals, another year of getting to watch the future grow, I wouldn't have it any other way.