Students from Gentry Middle School pose for photo

Surry County School System Students Perform Well at the NCASA Art Showcase

Surry County Schools

January 24, 2025

Each year, Surry County School System students perform well at the NCASA Art Showcase.  This year is no different.  The following students and teams recently competed in the Regional NCASA Art Showcase Competition.  Art Showcase is a competition that recognizes the best individual artists and art programs in North Carolina schools.  Students are presented with a prompt and given one month to create their submission.  This year’s theme for the competition was “What does The Sound of Silence look like? Create a work of art inspired by the song The Sound of Silence written by Paul Simon.”.

Media categories include painting, drawing, collage, photography, and other creative efforts.  Electronic copies of submissions are sent to NCASA and forwarded to judges.  Individuals with the top score in their respective categories automatically advance to the state finals. The top five scoring schools from each division also advance to the state finals and are evaluated by judges in a live exhibition.

All high schools and middle schools listed below advanced to the State Finals, which will be hosted by Atkins High School on February 1st:

  • J. Sam Gentry Middle (1st place, West Region Middle School Division)

  • Surry Central High (2nd place, West Region High Schools)

  • North Surry High (4th place, advanced as a wildcard)

Team Members Advancing to State Finals:

J. Sam Gentry Middle School Team:

  • Camden Wall

  • Norah Sherrill

  • Lyla Stanley

  • Cambrey Newman

  • Elsa Mills

  • Emmy Draughn

  • Cali Barber

  • Abigail Fajardo

  • Camila Chaire

Surry Central High School Team:

  • Isaac Eller - Drawing (1st Place)

  • Jack Hardy - Photography (1st Place)

  • Madison Snow - Painting (2nd place)

  • Kassidy Jones - Collage (3rd place)

  • Leah Echard - Sculpture 

  • McKenna Merritt - Digital Media 

  • Lynzee Warren - Mixed Media

  • Gib Martin - Animation

North Surry High School Team:

  • Caden Ward - Film/Animation

  • Lauren Willard - Digital Media

  • Ava McMillian - Sculpture

  • Emma Hunter - Photography

  • Hailey Hemmings - Painting

  • Llaremi Sanchez - Mixed Media

  • Raelynn Easter - Collage

  • Kendyl Brinkman - Printmaking

  • Israel Rodriguez - Drawing

Congratulations to all of these students and their visual arts teachers for their hard work, effort, and creativity!