WOHS senior wins coveted Scholastic Silver Key award

WEST ORANGE, NJ — West Orange High School senior and AP art student Proggya Paromita has been awarded a Silver Key in the Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards competition.

More than 100 arts and literary organizations partner with Scholastic annually to select top works of art and literature from students in grades seven through 12 in 29 categories. Panelists look for works that best exemplify originality, technical skill, and the emergence of a personal voice or vision. Last year, Scholastic received more than 350,000 entries for review.

“Proggya is a senior in my AP Art and Art 4 class this year,” art teacher Heather Young said. “She created this piece modeled after a selfie of herself to show how society and social media expect women to portray themselves, hence the words in her background. Of course, Proggya is quite the opposite of the picture, which is why it is so surprising. She would never truly show herself in this way because she is a very smart confident girl that has no need to fall into this stereotype.”

Paromita’s work was done with charcoal and mixed media — newspaper-like words collaged — and was part of a class assignment in Young’s class to draw yourself in a foreshortened pose. Paromita chose to draw her piece from an extended-arm aerial view.

Paromita’s work, along with other top artists, will be on view at the Montclair Art Museum during the Scholastic Arts reception on Feb. 28 from 6 to 9 p.m.

  FEATURED, West Orange High School