On Monday, May 9^th, the Walker’s Rising Stars scholarship completion took place at the Mahaffey Theater. According to Principal Bohnet, two winners were from Osceola: Jennifer Stott, 12^th grade, won 4^th place in the Visual Arts category, while Lindsey Wedgeworth, 12^th grade, was a runner-up in the Dance category. Bohnet said both students received scholarship awards.

“Jennifer is an amazing student,” art teacher Mr. Locascio said of Jennifer Stott in a Pinellas County Schools video for the Rising Stars competition. “She just is so dedicated, and she has an incredible work ethic.”

“I’ve always been interested in art – it’s always been something I’ve wanted to pursue,” Jennifer said in an interview for the Warrior Record. “For me, it was a hobby that flourished into a passion.” In the video for the Rising Stars competition, Jennifer cited her sister as her biggest inspiration. “She’s always so supportive of me, like no matter what I do,” Jennifer said. “I’ll tell her to pose for this or do something and she’s always there for me.” In fact, Jennifer said in the video that her portrait of her sister is her favorite piece, “probably because of all the technicalities that went into it, and I just really like doing portraits, and it was an opportunity to explore that and develop my style.” Jennifer also said in the video that her favorite style is digital art (though Jennifer said she had some difficulty with it at first), as she says she finds “a lot more pleasure in it than doing traditional, because there’s so many different tools and facets to it that you can just completely explode creativity and do so many things with it.”

Jennifer said her work “was judged before the actual ceremony, based on a portfolio of five pieces.” “I entered in a series of digital pieces – some paintings, all done in Photoshop.” On her 4^th place win, Jennifer said “I’m still reeling – the entire Walker’s process was an incredible journey; I still can’t believe I made it in.”