Three high school art students submitted their work to the ARTEFFECT, a prestigious international student art competition for middle and high school students. The purpose of the competition is to shine a light on untold stories. They are competing against people from over 40 different countries. 

For this competition, the students created original visual artworks, wrote reflective Impact Statements (500–1,000 words), and developed projects designed to showcase these extraordinary role models and inspire positive change in their classrooms and communities.

The three students who were able to submit for this competition are as follows:

• Paityn Kosorski (Senior)
• Nadya Krawchenko (Senior)
• Kate Molloy (Senior)

Two of the students were able to share their stories about their pieces. 

Molloy created a chalk pastel painting inspired by Sir Nicolas Winton’s efforts to save Jewish children during the holocaust. 

“My drive was to honor Sir Nicholas Winton in an art piece for his humility and determination to save children from the Holocaust,” Molloy said. 

In her piece, she creates a story about the holocaust that anyone will be able to understand. 

“My favorite part of this artwork is Nicholas Winton and the descendants of the children he saved in the smoke of the train,” Molloy said. 

Her artwork is intricate and beautifully done. 

Next, Krawchenko created a mixed media drawing. Her artwork was inspiring by Hedy Lamarr. 

“The whole concept of the competition was choosing an unsung hero. Hedy Lamarr is someone I was already familiar with from her film career and once I found out that she was actually the mother of the GPS I knew I had to do her. She had so many amazing accomplishments I could focus on and that really allowed me to get creative with it,” Krawchenko said.  

In the piece, Krawchenko highlights her film career, and her contribution to the technological field. 

“My favorite part of the piece is definitely the large colored pencil portrait on the left. It took a lot of work to get it to look right, but I’m super happy with how it turned out,” Krawchenko said. 

Krawchenko explains why her choice was so personal to her.

“I think the fact that there’s so many women in STEM that don’t get recognized for their accomplishments really drove me to do this. There are so many things that we owe to women that people don’t even realize and I wanted to give some recognition for one of my favorites,” Krawchenko said. 

Lastly, Kosorski created a mixed media drawing as well. Her piece was about Patty-Jo, an African-American doll that ignited change in the toy industry. The doll was based on a comic book strip which Kosroski’s piece emphasizes.

Winning this competition can earn one of the three thousands of dollars in scholarships significantly helping their college educations. Best of luck to them, and hopefully they take their artistic efforts and talents with them into the future.