Caroline titled the painting “Lunch on the Slopes”, and her hard work on this piece of artwork earned her a National Medal in the 2018 Scholastic Art & Writing Award, presented by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. This year, nearly 350,000 works of art and writing were submitted. Less than 1% were recognized at the national level, and Caroline’s painting was among them.

While on a ski vacation with her family in Park City, Utah, Senior Caroline Bower snapped a picture of the cozy mountaintop lodge where she was eating lunch. Little did she know the impact that picture would have on her life, how many times she would return back to study its details as she re-created the image as an AP art student in an award-winning oil painting.

Caroline was invited to attend a ceremony in her honor at Carnegie Hall in New York City this summer to celebrate her artistic prowess. Scholastic panelists look for works that best exemplify originality, technical skill, and the emergence of a personal voice or vision. Since 1923, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards have recognized the vision, ingenuity, and talent of our nation’s youth, and provided opportunities for creative teens to be celebrated.

Another painting of Caroline’s, entitled “Down the Slopes”, was a district finalist in the Georgia Art Awards and was included in an art exhibition at the Georgia State Capitol. Caroline is currently studying at Duke University and plans to pursue a minor in art.