Plainfield High School-Central Campus 2023 graduate Emily Guardado recently earned national recognition from the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards for her artwork.
Guardado won a New York Life Scholarship silver medal for her digital artwork titled “Unrequited Love.” “I was shocked when I found out I won the silver medal,” she said.
“Hopefully I can get some recognition and put the award on my resume or in my college essay,” she said.
Guardado won a Gold Key award in the regional Scholastic arts competition in February. Her work was automatically entered into the national competition.
The graduate plans to study art at Joliet Junior College with plans to transfer to Columbia College in Chicago to earn a degree in animation.
More than 100,000 teens from U.S. territories, Canada, and every state in the nation participated in this year’s awards, submitting more than 300,000 works of art and writing.
Works by more than 40,000 teens received regional recognition, and almost 2,000 works earned national awards.
Guardado’s art will be on display in Carnegie Hall in New York this summer. Visit https://www.artandwriting.org/gallery/ to see her work.