Scholastics Art Show Ian Gunn ‘12 Elder’s Art Department brings out the goods once again this year at the Scholastic Art Awards, seventeen Panthers have won Gold Keys, Silver Keys or Honorable Mentions, all earning a space in the Regional Art Show at Madison Place in Covington, Kentucky. Elder shows off just how strong the Art Department is and how the forecast is for a bright future because only four of the winning students are seniors this year. The optimism surrounding the Department is evident and Mr. Buetsche is ecstatic about what lies ahead and about this particular Scholastic Art Show. The Panthers were honored on February 10, 2012 at the Covington Convention Center. Ian Gunn, Zak Ryan and Ryan Murphy all received Gold Key awards, while Stephen Lange, Zach Theders and Clay Benjamin received Silver Keys. Ten other Elder Art students garnered Honorable Mention Awards. The art department usually averages about 15 to 20 awards each year. Elder sent in 25 art pieces per art teacher, so 50 artworks total were sent in this year, and qualifying 17 out of 50 pieces is a great percentage. Elder also averages about two to five Gold Key winners, so having three this year just keeps that average alive and keeps the art department headed in the right direction. Cory Godar was the first Art Student to have a piece be awarded a Gold Key in the New York contest. Local Gold Key winners are sent to New York to compete nationwide with 30,000 other art pieces. At that show 300 more Gold Keys are given; the highest award in all of high school art. Cory achieved this feat last year having his piece chosen as one of the 300 out of 30,000 overall entries! Elder can only hope they can repeat Cory’s success this year and for years to come. The Art Department is reaching for new heights, with more and more students coming into Elder, more and more students are becoming interested in Art. With Mrs. Plagge being added to the team, we can expect each student who takes art to become more interested and continue throughout their AP Studio Art years. The future is definitely beaming and no one could be more excited than Mr. Buetsche.