On Wednesday, May 13, the state Department of Human Services honored six New Jersey high school and middle school students at the Teen Media Contest hosted by the Division of Family Development’s Office of Child Support.
The annual statewide contest concluded with a ceremony at the State House awarding prizes to three high school students and three middle school students for their outstanding artistic achievements.
Sharina Kuo of Carusi Middle School was awarded first place in the middle school category.
Sharina’s artwork, “Family in My Hands,” was selected from more than 150 entries from 18 participating schools throughout the state.
The contest uses the topic of family to engage high school and middle school students in creative thinking through art. This year’s challenge was to illustrate the way in which families are greater than the sum of their parts.
This theme encourages students to show how families can make an impact regardless of the traditional or non-traditional family structure.
Carmella Buono-Tomasetti, who is Sharina’s art teacher at Carusi Middle School, encouraged her to get involved in this contest.
“I encourage many of my students to get their work outside of the building,” Buono-Tomasetti said. “Sharina’s piece was a standout, and I actually hesitated because I knew the original would not be returned to her.”
Sharina attested that she was not crazy about the idea originally but was inspired by her teacher to enter into the contest.
“Mrs. Tomasetti thought it would be a good opportunity,” Sharina said. “I’m glad I did it because the congratulations I have received from everyone has been amazing.”
Sharina’s “Family In My Hands” piece helped her get reacquainted with some family members she had lost touch with.
“My family is mostly from Taiwan, so I don’t get to see them often,” Sharina said. “When I won, I started receiving calls from a lot of them to congratulate me, and it was good to hear from them.”
In a way, it was coincidental that this year’s theme dealt with family as a whole because this experience ended up bringing Sharina closer to her family in ways she didn’t expect.
“I believe our favorite part of the experience was being able to share this with Sharina, her family and our principal and administrators because it says art matters,” Buono-Tomasetti said.
Sharina is known around the school not only for her art, but also for being a mild-mannered, humble student.
“Sharina is a model student and an inspiration,” Buono-Tomasetti said. “It has been a pleasure and a privilege to not only have Sharina in my art class but also in art club the past three years.”
Sharina talked a lot about it not mattering whether she won the contest. When asked about the most important aspect of the experience, she referred to the process.
“I started working on the piece for a couple minutes at a time each day,” Sharina said. “It was never about whether I won or not. I was more focused on the path that lead me there.”
Art has always come easy to Sharina and has become her favorite subject over the years.
Sharina touched on how she is able to use art as her voice at times because her writing skills are not the strongest.
“In many subjects, I have trouble focusing, but with art I can sit for hours and draw whatever comes to mind,” Sharina said. “It allows me to use my imagination and expresses my emotions.”
The winning artwork and a number of honorable mention pieces that were selected are being included in the annual Child Support calendar published every year.
In addition to having her artwork featured in the 2016 calendar, Sharina will receive a plaque of achievement, an American Express gift card and a pair of day passes to Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson.
“This year’s theme captured the diversity of family structures in New Jersey, while honoring the contributions they make through community service to their neighbors and their world,” Acting DHS Commissioner Elizabeth Connolly said. “This year’s artwork clearly shows the enthusiasm of the students to show how they can make positive contributions to society.”
“We are amazed, year after year, on how the students internalize the annual theme and create some beautiful artwork. Each of the hundreds of entries we receive each year contain unique illustrations of parents and their children, from all walks of life,” Division of Family Development Director Natasha Johnson said.
