St. Mary Academy - Bay View freshman, Emily O'Hearn, has been named a National Silver Medalist for her sculpture in the 2019 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. The sculpture was created under the direction of Bay View Visual Arts teacher Jean Petisce-Lynch, who has had three additional students receive national recognition in the past 5 years. Of the 340,000 submissions of art and writing for this year's awards competition, only the top 1% were recognized at the national level.

According to Petisce-Lynch, the assignment which resulted in O'Hearn's award-winning artwork was to create a sculpture using recyclable, or repurposed materials.

"Emily is a very independent and creative person. She worked very hard and puts everything into her artwork. I am very proud of her, job well done," commented Jean Petisce-Lynch.

O'Hearn's sculpture will be published in the Scholastic Art and Writing Award's online gallery in June 2019. Her name will also be added in the 2019 Yearbook, a companion publication to the Best Teen Art and The Best Teen Writing anthologies.

This winter, St. Mary Academy - Bay View celebrated a tremendous showing in the regional Scholastic Art Awards. Middle and Upper School students earned 4 medals and 6 honorable mentions. At the regional level, O'Hearn won a Gold Key for her sculpture and was named an American Visions Nominee.