People remember their senior year for a plethora of fun memories. Prom, graduation, and college decision day are some of the most anticipated days of one’s high school career. There were several students from the class of 2014 who will be remembered by the great accomplishments that made them stand out. Below, a few of these seniors are highlighted for their achievements this year.
Every expert was once a beginner at something, and a lot of experts are successful due to their optimism to take on new challenges. For both Kelly Brant and Krista Erlandson, the challenge presented itself when each had the opportunity to enroll in Darkroom Photo Studio, an elective class that teaches the basics of photography. Little did they know that they would go on to win national silver medals from the National Scholastic Art and Writing Association, a prestigious scholarship group that has awarded students in various subject areas since 1923.
Kelly Brant submitted an HDR image of her father, in which she merged eleven photos with varying exposures into one final product. Other than the change in exposures, the appearance of the individual photos remained the same in the final photo. “This really brought out the expression in his face and revealed his true character,” she reflected.
Krista Erlandson submitted a photo titled “Who is Who,” which featured her brother standing against a wall in downtown Libertyville. The photo was a pastiche, which is an artistic work that imitates a piece by Diane Arbus, an American artist known for her black and white commercial portraits of various people.
This year’s seniors remember receiving their class T-shirts last month on Senior Decision Day. But what went into making that shirt? Sam Wilson took initiative in crafting the shirt that will go down in history. College and career counselor Amy Belstra was impressed with his experience in designing shirts and offered Wilson the chance to design the Class of 2014 shirt in January, an offer he could not pass down. Over the next couple of weeks, he brainstormed ideas and eventually collaborated with Rosie Lynch and Ellie Jenkins to construct the final product. “I told Ellie what the requirements were, and she helped draw a creative design for the shirt. Then I made a layout to compliment Ellie’s drawing on the T-shirt, which I uploaded to a computer. By then the T-shirt was pretty much finished,” he said.
Gordon Schlicht may be on track to have a very bright political career ahead of him after being recognized as the best delegate at a Model United Nations conference in April. The event was held at Northwestern University, where he will be attending school next year. The conference consisted of several delegates in multiple committees who practiced delivering policies and establishing points of emphasis. Schlicht is optimistic to continue Model United Nations in college: “I just want to plan on attending more conferences, as well as taking advantage of international competitions which the Northwestern club participates in,” he confirmed. “Ultimately, I’ll try to win more awards and move my way up to the chair committee, which is the collegiate equivalent of being on the dais committee.”