All Oak Hills High School students electing to enroll in an Art and Design Department course will develop a Competitive Advantage, Appreciation of the Arts, Creative Thinking and Problem Solving Skills, Interdisciplinary Connections, Social and Global Awareness, and Career Preparation related to Visual Communication.
“Celebrating Art” is devoted to the promotion and appreciation of student art. The intent of their student art contest is to motivate student artists. The top entries are published in an anthology that will record the creative works of today’s student artists.
Students recently submitted work and 8 OHHS Art and Design students were invited to be published in the Summer 2026 “Celebrating Art”! Only the best art is selected to be included in the full-color hardbound art book, “Celebrating Art”. Additionally, final judging for the “Top Ten Artist” and “High Merit Artist” awards will be completed and announced soon. The following students should feel honored. This is not a contest where every entry is invited to be published and is a highly selective competition. Thousands of entries were not invited to be published. Being published represents a lot of talent, hard work, and dedication from students.
Congratulations to the following students:
From Dignan-Cummins’ Honors Enamels, Mosaic, and Glass class: Maeghan Zimmerly
From Schorsch’s Drawing and Printmaking, Studio Art Foundations, and AP Art and Design 2D Design and Drawing classes: Tym’Shay Akins Ava Kaiser Jocelyn Lawrence Evelyn Mendez-Coronado Anna Schuler Maddie Smith
A year-long collaboration between the OHHS Art and Design Department and The Wellington at North Bend Crossing has culminated in the completion of a beautiful new mural that will welcome residents and visitors to the Vista building for years to come.
The project began during the summer of 2025 when The Wellington at North Bend Crossing sponsored an open mural design contest. Students in Ms. Kopf’s Painting and Public Art classes were invited to submit original mural concepts, providing them with the opportunity to create artwork for a meaningful community space. After reviewing several outstanding student submissions, residents of The Wellington selected the winning design created by junior Sona Sougoule. Her vibrant concept served as the inspiration for the final mural, showcasing both her artistic vision and creativity.
Once the design was selected, students began preparing the wall in April 2026. Over the course of several months, the Painting and Public Art classes worked together to transfer, paint, and complete the large-scale mural. Through careful planning, teamwork, and countless hours of painting, the students transformed an ordinary wall into a colorful work of public art that reflects the spirit of community and creativity.
The Wellington celebrated the project’s completion with the following message on its Facebook page:
“We are thrilled to share that the mural at our Vista building is now complete! What began as an incredible vision has become a beautiful work of art that will brighten our community for years to come. We want to extend our heartfelt thanks to the talented students in the Painting and Public Art Class at Oak Hills High School, led by Miss Kristy Kopf, for bringing this project to life.
A special congratulations once again to junior Sona Sougoule, whose winning design inspired this amazing mural. Your creativity, dedication, and talent have left a lasting impact on our residents, families, and team.
Projects like this remind us of the power of community partnerships and the joy that art can bring across generations. Thank you to everyone who made this collaboration possible—we couldn’t be more grateful!”
This project is a wonderful example of how public art can bring people together while providing students with authentic, real-world artistic experiences. The OHHS Art and Design Department is incredibly proud of Sona Sougoule and every student in the Painting and Public Art classes whose hard work, dedication, and collaboration made this mural possible. We are grateful to The Wellington at North Bend Crossing for creating this opportunity and for partnering with our students. We look forward to seeing the mural continue to brighten the lives of residents and visitors for many years to come.
“Celebrating Art” is devoted to the promotion and appreciation of student art. The intent of their student art contest is to motivate student artists. The top entries are published in an anthology that will record the creative works of today’s student artists.
Students recently submitted work and 78 OHHS Art and Design students were invited to be published in the Spring 2026 “Celebrating Art”! Only the best art is selected to be included in the full-color hardbound art book, “Celebrating Art”. Additionally, final judging for the “Top Ten Artist” and “High Merit Artist” awards will be completed and announced soon. The following students should feel honored. This is not a contest where every entry is invited to be published and is a highly selective competition. Thousands of entries were not invited to be published. Being published represents a lot of talent, hard work, and dedication from students.
Congratulations to the following students:
From Ambs’ Ceramics 2 and Studio Art Foundations classes: Addyson Dennis Eva Etris-Schuler Grace Marcus Hannah Roellig Josie Hollander Lizz Price Moriah Pree Olivia Lucas Ryleigh Brader Sofia Segoviano Sydney Abercrombie Ultan Delaney Audree Cartmell Bianca Bacher Eleanor Good Kailee Miller Logan Hart Sam Dew Sundai Harper Avery Goettke Evelyn Good Leigha Aday
From Dignan-Cummins’ Ceramics 1, Honors Enamels, Mosaic, and Glass, Honors Fiber Arts, Sculpture, and AP Art 3D Design classes: Amara Ferguson Anastasia Brantley Marina Sek Logan Rehn Abbey Burst Ava Wilson Charles Elam Chloe Kelley Kita Kohlbrandt Lexi Holzbacher Lilah June Morgan Maeghan Zimmerly Megan Schmidt Nathan Niehaus Sam Getz Ahleya Velasco Charlie Morehead Eva Duke-ibanez Evelyn Dann JT Schmidt Leo Ruthven Maggie Heydorn Morgan Sargent Rachael Wunderlich Sophia Flaig Sumira Kessler
From Kopf’s Art Foundations, Digital Art Foundations, and Painting and Public Art classes: Elijah Gifford Liam Maloney Sophia Gray Chelsea Crider Dylan Johnson Jaylin Hill Lily Ann Gunnarson Alexandra See Lillianna McGuire
From Schorsch’s Drawing and Printmaking, Studio Art Foundations, and AP Art and Design 2D Design and Drawing classes: Anna Schuler Ava Kaiser Carly Gibbs Eli Wilson Gaby Coronado Orozco Julia Chapman Liam Edenfield Liliana Pisegna Madaline Smith Nathan Muhlen Tym’Shay Akins Cynthia Brown Desmond Damon Grace Abrams Lennox Ludeman Belle Kirby Sarah Sieve Evelyn Mendez-Coronado Jocelyn Lawrence Maria Arrivillaga Munoz Maria Pitchford
Schorsch on her Fulbright international field experience in Varanasi, India.
Art educator Jamie Schorsch recently received remarkable recognition from the Ohio Art Education Association, earning both the Advocate of Honor Award and the Ohio Art Educator of the Year Award, two of the organization’s most distinguished honors.
The Advocate of Honor Award recognizes individuals who expand their impact beyond the classroom by taking on leadership roles in advocacy and community engagement for visual arts education. Recipients actively champion art education outside their daily teaching responsibilities by recruiting others to join advocacy efforts, speaking directly to policymakers on key issues, and contributing to initiatives at the state and/or national level.
The Ohio Art Educator of the Year Award is presented to an educator who exemplifies excellence in teaching, demonstrates a profound impact on students, and shows an ongoing commitment to the advancement of art education. The OAEA Art Educator of the Year Award is the organization’s highest honor, recognizing long-term dedication to both art education and OAEA. Recipients demonstrate a strong, consistent teaching philosophy, leadership in innovative curriculum and methodology, and active involvement in advancing the field through research, writing, and engagement with current issues. They also show leadership beyond the local level at the state or national stage.
For Schorsch, the recognition is both meaningful and humbling. Her journey into teaching was anything but conventional. She did not initially plan to become an art educator, but always sensed that her future would be rooted in the arts. Raised by a single mother who worked tirelessly to support her family, Schorsch attended Walnut Hills High School as a self-described average student before becoming the first in her family to pursue higher education.
Her time at the University of Cincinnati’s DAAP program proved both formative and challenging. Balancing the demands of coursework with employment, she ultimately stepped away during her junior year, uncertain if she would return to college at all. She returned to complete her Bachelors of Fine Arts, with no clear plan for the future. One year after graduation, Schorsch reentered academia through the Master of Arts in Art Education program at DAAP with a full scholarship. Despite facing significant anxiety around public speaking, she discovered that teaching was a natural fit.
More than two decades later, Schorsch has built a career defined by passion, resilience, and a deep belief in the transformative power of art. She views art not only as a discipline, but as a vital tool for expression, reflection, and meaning-making. Throughout her career, Schorsch has remained committed to empowering students to recognize the value of art in their own lives, to use it as a means of processing experiences, communicating ideas, and engaging with the world around them.
This dual recognition from the Ohio Art Education Association stands as a testament not only to her individual accomplishments, but also to the collective community of students, colleagues, and mentors who have shaped and supported her journey.
Schorsch will be recognized for the Advocacy of Honor and Ohio Art Educator of the Year award regionally, at the Fitton Center for Creative Arts, on September 4th and at the OAEA State Conference in Cincinnati on November 7th,2026. Recognition of the Ohio Art Educator of the Year award will take place at the National Art Education Association Conference in New York City in March 2027.
This past weekend, the regional level of judging for The Ohio Governor’s Youth Art Exhibition, took place. The Exhibition, now in its 56th year, is dedicated to the educational and artistic advancement of our talented young people in the state of Ohio. The exhibition is open to all of Ohio’s 1,112 high schools, both public and private, chartered by the State of Ohio Department of Education. The exhibition is a valuable incentive for our young people; it encourages an appreciation for the arts throughout Ohio and reflects the fine quality of art instruction and talent which exist in our state.
The process of selecting artworks for the state exhibition begins on a regional level. The state is divided into 15 regional locations, with high school students in each region invited to enter work in that regional judging. Each region has a designated Regional Director, who is responsible for choosing the judges for his or her region and arranging specifics of the event. The judging takes place first regionally, and then at the state level, with judges for the competition chosen from all over the country and are generally professional artists, college level instructors, or both.
This year our region # 14, Southwest Ohio, had almost 600 entries and 114 works were selected to move on to the second and final round of judging at the statewide level. Three different judges rated the work on a 0.5 – 10 scale and their scores were averaged together to select the top 20% of works. The Statewide judging will take place next Saturday, March 14th.
Congratulations to Lydia Wilson who had two pieces selected to advance to the state level of judging, and best of luck to her in the next round this upcoming weekend!
OHHS Art and Design 