Menu
School honors its top artists, performers, musicians
For their ability to far exceed expectations in the fine arts, students from Mountain Home High School earned recognition for their achievements during a yearly ceremony April 22.
The Ninth Annual Creative Art Awards Show presented 20 awards to students representing musicians, singers, actors, writers and artists from various school programs and clubs.
"We are here tonight to celebrate a number of wonderfully talented young men and women," said Kim Monnier, who served as the evening's master of ceremonies.
These individuals took a smear of color, a series of sounds, a swatch of fabric, a sequence of words and a sense of the beautiful, "and through their unique voices, their unique visions and their unique selves created art," he added.
The evening's awards were more than a celebration of various art forms, Monnier added. It's the celebration of something new -- something that did not exist before that "sprung from the genius of these young people being honored."
The evening's atmosphere started on the lively side as members of the high school's Encore Company presented the opening scene from their upcoming presentation of
"The Jungle Book." The theater troupe's final play of the season will run from May 8 to 10 at the high school.
The mood of the evening changed to jubilation as teachers from each of the fine arts programs stepped on stage to announce their top students. Kylie Powell earned the night's first honor, earning the school's creative writing award.
Powell demonstrates a unique vision and voice through her prose and poetry, Monnier said.
"Like all truly great writers, she never seems totally satisfied with a piece. It is always a work in progress," he added.
Two students were honored for their work outside of the academic environment as Christine Lee named this year's creative leadership recipients.
Jason Cobos, who recently moved to the Mountain Home area, earned the title for his efforts to ensure families had food for the holidays at his previous high school in addition to organizing a lunch buddy program with students at Hacker Middle School.
Meanwhile, Madison Lawson earned recognition for her insights into early childhood development through her work at Grace Montessori School, according to Lee, who teaches the school's home economics program. She then organized a field trip to take a group of students with developmental disabilities to the Boise zoo.
Another accolade presented that evening went to Tia Senger for her work with the school's computer graphic design course. Teacher Aaron Rodney praised her efforts over the past year to put together various publicity programs for various high school sports programs in addition to her work creating the school's annual Syringa literary and arts journal.
As the recognition ceremony continued, Patti Hamaishi from the Mountain Home Arts Council Visual Arts Committee and the local Out of the Box organization named the winner of its yearly scholarship program. The $1,000 scholarship presented to Katie Young recognized her contributions to the local fine arts community.
Over the past eight years, the program has raised more than $10,000 while providing $8,000 in scholarships to graduating seniors, Hamaishi said.
Closing out the first half of this year's awards ceremony, members of the high school's jazz choir raised their voices in song. Director Michael Stear honored the group for its contributions during the year, saying these teens turned a series of dots on a piece of paper into a unique art form and became the "instrument where the composer speaks."
Stear then recognized Veronica Cooke and Liam Condon for their contributions to the choir program.
Meanwhile, band director Jerry Tippets presented similar accolades to members of the high school's jazz ensemble. They included Ellisa Tienhaara and Raven Crossley, who won this year's Woody Herman Jazz awards.
Tippets then recognized Heidi Rawlins with the band's John Philips Sousa Award. The honor recognized her leadership and lasting contributions to the high school band.
The evening's recognition moved on to other art mediums as Susan Martin recognized her yearbook and photography students.
She presented the first honor to Valeria Juarez, who serves as the yearbook editor. Martin praised her leadership abilities, which Juarez used to resolve countless problems to produce the school's award-winning publication.
This year's photography honor went to Chad Shrader, who placed third in the photo portfolio event at a national photojournalism conference. It was the first time Mountain Home had ever placed in this national competition, Martin said.
Martin highlighted Shrader's work to document the aftermath following a pair of wildfires that swept through the Pine and Featherville area last year.
The world of theater then took center stage as teacher Taunya Page recognized four of her students. Running a theater department is a huge job, and it takes a team of dedicated individuals to keep things organized and moving smoothly, Page said.
Among the students recognized were Madison Keane for technical theater excellence while Kimmie Rye was named the high school's theater student of the year.
Two students Page recognized earned other awards earlier that evening were Katie Young and Veronica Cooke, who earned theatre excellence honors in recognition of their years of dedication to the theater organization.
Young started acting in first grade but left the theatrics world by the time she was in middle school. She returned to the stage in her freshman year of high school and found her love of theater once again.
Meanwhile, Cooke got into acting in seventh grade when she was dragged unwillingly to an audition. Her initial lack of stage experience nearly proved too much.
"I almost dropped out of the play because I was so scared," she said. "But it was the best experience of my life."
Turning to other winners, Jim Clark broke from tradition by presenting two honors he labeled the Glorious Goblet Award. Clark, who teaches three-dimensional art programs at the high school, praised the "amazing" work of Mary Martin and Katie McKenzie that went "over the top," and which convinced Clark that he needed to recognize both teens.
Martin is the calm, collected student whose true talent comes alive once a piece of clay is placed in front of her, Clark said. What comes out of that crazy process "is absolutely amazing," he added.
Meanwhile, McKenzie is a student that remains focused and methodical in her aim for perfection, Clark said.
"I like expressing myself and creating new things," McKenzie said. "It's fun to express myself is so many different ways,"
Among the pieces she displayed that evening was a home light box that allows light to shine from inside the ceramic piece. To achieve the right effect, she spent days cutting out finite details to help her design stand out.
"I just wanted a challenge," she said.
The art department continued to honor the high school's finest students after Brenda Raub presented awards to her advanced art students. McKenzie earned her second award of the night after she was named artopian of the year while Savvy Cook earned the high school's artist of the year title.
"When in or out of the art room, (Cook) she is constantly working on her art," Raub said. "She doesn't need to be assigned anything she just jumps into her sketch book and draws, every day without fail."
The awards show marked a final moment of sorts for Monnier, who will retire from teaching at the end of this school year. A video presentation that concluded this year's creative arts festivities paid tribute to his contributions to the school over his 29-year career.