Roosevelt student has rosier picture of life following prestigious national honor
Posted By Brandon Reid On May 3, 2010 @ 1:56 pm In Happening Now | No Comments
From press release
It was only last December, but family problems had caused Roosevelt High School senior Zachary Beets to move out of his parent’s house and rent a room. Zach was unsure of the future, but at the urging of his teacher and mentor, Leslie Arbetman, the two entered his portfolio in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.
Zach’s life has become much brighter now that he has been named a Scholastic National Silver Medal winner—one of 1,400 students to receive the honor from among 165,000 whose portfolios were judged by Scholastic. If that weren’t success enough, Zach is a likely contender for class valedictorian and has received a $55,000 scholarship offer to attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago this fall.
Beets credits much of the success to Arbetman, who has believed in him and pushed him since he was one of her students at West Middle School. Arbetman, as Zach’s teacher, has also received a Gold Medal Award. The two have been invited to accept the awards during ceremonies June 9 and 10 at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
“I’m very proud of what Zach has done under my guidance,” Arbetman said. “Being recognized by Scholastic is an incredible honor that shows how distinguished Zach is as an artist. I’m very excited to see where his artwork will take him in the future.”
Arbetman recalls how talented he was even in middle school and how he could express his feelings through art: an innate talent that teachers may only see a few times in the course of their career.
Zach has the ability to tell his unique story by using his brand of visual narrative. He deals with difficult themes that are at times not easy for the viewer to look at, but people are drawn to the honesty and the unique use of mixed media.
Zach has been interested in art as long as he can remember and looks forward to growing as an artist. “I just want to constantly work to make sure my art is never duplicated and cannot be defined by one style,” he said. “I want to always improve my work.”
Article printed from The Rock River Times: http://rockrivertimes.com
URL to article: http://rockrivertimes.com/2010/05/03/roosevelt-student-has-rosier-picture-of-life-following-prestigious-national-honor/
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