Oceanside High School student wins $10,000 art scholarship

Oceanside High School senior Chelsea Borsack was recently named a Portfolio Gold medalist in the 2012 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, earning herself a $10,000 with her award-winning photography.

The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards is the longest-running scholarship programs for creative teens. There were more than 200,000 submissions from students across the nation in grades 7 through 12. From those, Borsack was among 15 chosen as Portfolio Gold medalists — the award’s highest honor.

“It’s really exciting,” Borsack said. “I knew it would be kind of a big deal when I found out what the awards were, but it’s just been completely overwhelming and nothing what I expected. In a good way, of course.”

Borsack created a portfolio of a series of eight pieces, each one consisting of two photographs — a portrait and a non-portrait picture.

“My comfort zone in photos is generally portraits. That’s what I always gravitate towards,” Borsack said. “Because this was a portfolio piece, I knew it was multiple works and something that I’d be comfortable and excited to work on for a long period of time. I didn’t want to get bored of it. So I decided to challenge myself and incorporate non-portraits: architecture, nature, inanimate objects — whatever. Just to try to break out of my comfort zone and challenge myself a little bit.”

Borsack started working on the project last summer, working until the submission deadline earlier this year. She took the project with her wherever she went, Borsack said, shooting photos in Rochester, Oswego, Manhattan and, of course, Long Island.

The goal of the pieces, Borsack said, was to find something in the environment that matched the emotion of the portraits.

“The jurors of the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards are always moved by the complexity and sophistication of the top student work,” said Virginia McEnerney, executive director of the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. “Chelsea’s photography really spoke to them and piqued their curiosity about what she was trying to say. Her work is a shining example of the great talent that can be found in our nation’s teens.”

Borsack has only been taking pictures formally since her sophomore year of high school, when she started taking photography classes. But she has always had a camera in her hand. “My first camera was one of those Little Tikes camera that had the two eye holes and the two handles on either side,” she said. “I’ve always been taking pictures since then.”

As part of the award, Borsack’s work will be displayed at Parsons The New School for Design in Manhattan in June — one of the schools that Borsack is considering for next fall. It’s not the first time her work has been displayed: it has also been displayed at shows at C.W. Post, Adelphi, Five Towns College and Nassau Community College.

Borsack’s first choice for school next year is Wagner College, where she wants to study Arts Administration — a dual-major business and arts degree. “I definitely want to incorporate [photography] into my career somehow,” said Borsack. “But I’m not sure to what extent, exactly.”