Kennett High School seniors Lizette Bedolla, Alexandra Cresci, and Zoe Nguyen were recognized for their exceptional talent at the 45^th annual Chester County High School Art Festival & Congressional Art Show. Alex won the Excellence Award, while Lizette and Zoe shared the evening’s top prize, the CCAA Board of Directors Best in Show. All three are students of Kennett High School art teacher Mr. Tom Hironimus.

Alex Cresci’s charcoal portrait (“Notorious”)

Alex Cresci’s award-winning piece, “Notorious,” is a charcoal portrait of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

When describing why she chose the photograph on which she based her drawing, Alex said, “In today’s political climate especially, I wanted to select a figure that I look up to as a strong woman, someone with values and a strong set of principles.”

Alex has not yet decided where she will be attending college, but she has definitely determined her major: engineering.

“Maybe I’ll minor in art,” she said. “I appreciate the visual and spatial awareness required by art. It’s not all that different from mathematics and science in the way that the details and various components work together to create a whole.”

Lizette Bedolla’s charcoal portrait

Lizette’s piece, also a charcoal portrait, features an elderly couple.

She explained, “The charcoal medium I chose really created a nice contrast and allowed for there to be more detail and depth. I chose to base my piece on the particular picture I did because I was really touched by the story behind it. I also noticed that older people are rarely represented in art, whether it’s in drawings or in the media or anywhere, so I took the opportunity to give them a place in my art that showed them as happy and in love as they are.”

Lizette will be attending Immaculata University this fall to major in business and communication, though she says art will always be important to her.

“Art has taught me so much about hard work and patience. Even though I won’t be doing art professionally in the future, I’ll still use it to foster my creativity. I’d like to have a career in fashion journalism someday, so I’ll always use art as inspiration,” said Lizette.

Finally, Zoe’s piece is another charcoal portrait, this one featuring legendary reggae artist Bob Marley.

When asked about the inspiration for her piece, Zoe said, “I grew up listening to Bob Marley. My whole family listens to him. My mom even said I was born with his music playing.”

Zoe Nguyen’s charcoal portrait

“The picture I picked to duplicate was a younger image of him — one not as many people would recognize right away. I thought it would be cool to try to draw his dreadlocks. Creating that texture is really difficult,” she added.

Zoe is headed to Jefferson University in Philadelphia, ultimately pursuing a degree in medicine, though she still plans to include art in her life.

“I think that it’s important to have a creative side, to have a different way of seeing things,” she said.

Mr. Hironimus is understandably proud of his students: “It is always special to have a student be recognized for exemplary work. This year it is especially amazing to have Alex claim her second consecutive award, a Kennett High School first, as well as to have Zoe and Lizette share the title of ‘Best in Show,’ an honor that we have received in back-to-back years.”

Zoe (left), Lizette (center), and Alex (right)

All three young artists expressed their gratitude for Mr. Hironimus.

Lizette summarized their feelings saying, “I am grateful for the past four years I’ve spent doing art, as well as to Mr. Hironimus for giving me — and all Kennett art students — the opportunity to do what he loves so well.”

The juried exhibition was held from Tuesday, April 11 through Saturday, April 27 at the main location of the Chester County Art Association (CCAA) in West Chester. The show featured nearly five hundred pieces of art from Chester County high schools, including over twenty works by Kennett High School artists.

Seniors and Parents,

The Baccalaureate Ceremony, for the class of 2019, will be held on Thursday, June 6 at 7:00 at St. Rocco in Avondale.

It’s a lovely and traditional part of all graduations. In addition to attending, seniors are always part of the service as speakers, readers, ushers, musicians, or vocalists. If you have an interest in participating or questions about it, see Ms. Lamoreux in room 104.

In addition to the traditional commencement ceremony with its cap and gown and congratulatory handshakes, valedictorian speech (or speeches) and recognition of outstanding achievements, high schools also have baccalaureate ceremonies. Formally defined as a service to honor the graduating class, the baccalaureate is a quieter, more reflective event that focuses on students’ personal growth and achievement. The baccalaureate can often be a more substantive and meaningful experience for parents and students alike.

The Kennett High School Blue and White Chapter of the National Honor Society welcomed the 2019-20 inductees at a ceremony and reception on March 28, 2019.

Chapter adviser Dr. Alicia Tamargo opened the program. Four National Honor Society members from the Class of 2019 delivered speeches highlighting the Cardinal Objectives, the qualities expected of members: Mirella Petrillo addressed character; Davis Piercy spoke about scholarship; Colin Petersen focused on leadership; and Kassandra Ayllon highlighted the idea of service. Senior speeches were delivered by Timothy Freligh and Avery Chapman.

Next, Mr. Jeffery Thomas, Assistant Principal, called the role of the existing members of the Chapter. These students were inducted into the Society last year: Lilian Alba Rodriguez, Emily Augustine, Camille Avedisian, Kassandra Ayllon, Lizette Bedolla-Zavala, Amanda Bell, Jonathan Bell, Claire Borman, Julia Bradley, JaynaBruno, Madison Canter, Mara Castleton, Avery Chapman, Ava Charlton, Heather Cooper, Alexandra Cresci, Maya Das, Zhuanel Du Toit, Kathryn Erisman, Christopher Ferrighetto, Victoria Freire*, Timothy Freligh, Emma Giancola, Holly Gouge, Molly Hohner, Mary Holguin, Alexandra Hughson, Rachel Hyzny*, Rhea Jiang*, Mitchell Kosara, Meredith Krieger, Kevin Lemus Moreno, Samuel Lesher, John MacMillan, Peter Magasiny, Brenna McGowan, Olivia McLaurin, Sydney Mentzer, Tamblyn Mitchell*, Jack Mullen, Zoe Nguyen, Caleb Pebly, Colin Petersen, Mirella Petrillo, Davis Piercy, Noah Rasero, Hildi Reiter, Kyle Robertson, Cole Robinson, Katherine Roche, Katelin Rumbold, Eric Salameda, Joseph Schlitz, ConnorSchmidt, Evan Shinn, Ananya Shivakumar, Samuel Starr*, Kristina Testa, Sydney Thureen, Tamryn Whyte, Elizabeth Wilkie, Emma Yue, and Brenna Zdebski.

Dr. Jeremy Hritz, Principal, called the role of new inductees who were welcomed into the Chapter: Seniors Luis Aguilar-Gaspar, Julia Bulgarelli, Refugio J. Lara, Lauren Moss, Joshua Ploener, Estefani Sanchez Fonseca, and Emma Whittaker; Juniors Jacob Adelman, Olutomilola Adetayo, Ainsley Albert, Savannah Applegate, Ryan Barish, Sophie Becker, Steven Blake Bolhouse, Trevor Bowdoin, Jordan Brown, Giovanna Caccamo, Shawn Carroll, Gabriella Caruso, Mary Charnichko, John Colamarino, Simon Comanda, Ellie Conlin-Day, Ian Dargitz, Jenna Davidson, Veronica Duran Paramo, Arya Faghri, Elisabeth Fenza, Caroline Fiss, Cali Fitzgibbon, Lucas Forte, Madeline Fowler, Mackenzie Fulton, Ronan Gorman, James Hanby, Kyle Highfield, Jessica Holck, Katherine Holguin, Lauren Jackson, Nathan Judd, Emily Kane, Emily Kaplan, Brennen Kohl, Rachael Kreicker, Megan Kuon, Rebecca Larimer, Katherine Lihou, Laisha Luevano Jimenez, Gina Lusvardi, Sofia Lusvardi, Ellen McVey, Maggie Meyreles, Gemma Morrison, Kara Murphy, Stephanie Oleykowski, Cameron Olivier, David Opong, Thomas Poncet, Tejis Ranganath, Abisai Rodriguez-Aguilar, Kennedy Ross, Jillian Rowan, Kira Rybarczyk, Jessica Sauer, Damaris Silva-Lopez, Alexa Simonson, Emily Taylor, Mirna Torres-Ayala, Mary Tuley, Ashley Willey, and Mantra Yang.

Following the induction ceremony and roll call, Assistant Principal Tomorrow Jenkins administered the pledge of honor, and Dr. Tamargo announced the newly elected officers for 2019-20: President Gemma Morrison, Vice President Ian Dargitz, Secretary Emily Kaplan, Treasurer Ashley Willey, and Historian Giovanna Caccamo. Dr. Hritz then closed the ceremony and invited all to a reception in the cafeteria.

Members of the Blue and White Chapter must demonstrate and maintain high standards of the four hallmarks of the National Honor Society: scholarship, leadership, character, and service. Throughout the year, National Honor Society members participate in service activities, including tutoring and fundraising. This year they have organized two blood drives for the American Red Cross, worked on crews for the Mushroom Festival, volunteered at Project Cure, hosted a “Senior Prom” at the Senior Center, and ushered patrons at this year’s musical Seussical. The group is also looking forward to activities in the community this spring, particularly volunteering at the Kennett Run.

Members of the Blue and White Chapter became eligible by posting a 3.75 grade point average (GPA) by the second semester of their junior year. Additional qualities of character, leadership, and service were assessed by the faculty of Kennett High School and reviewed by members of the National Honor Society Faculty Council who are chosen by the principal from among the faculty and serve for a period of two years. This year’s Faculty Council included Mr. Jess Bewley, Mr. Vincent Civiletti, Mrs. Sara Donovan, Dr. Christopher Hancock, Ms. Adrienne Hartford, Mr. Kevin Lentz, Ms. Heather Morihara, Mr. Joseph O’Sullivan, Ms. Elizabeth Rzucidlo, Mrs. Chanel Ruffin, Ms. Jennifer Schmalzbach, Mr. Robert Socash, Mr. Robert Virgin, and Mr. Mark Williamson.