Students will be competing at the annual VASE Regional Art Competition on Feb. 27 held at Williams High School in Plano.

“During the summer I took art classes and started brainstorming ideas,” VASE Competitor Hannah Verhagen said. “I’ve spent a lot of time at home practicing techniques.”

According to Art Teacher Carolyn Funk, anywhere from 500 to 1000 students compete in the region.

“In the competition, there is an interview portion, so it helps students with those skills,” Ms. Funk said. “The students get to meet other kids with similar interests from our school or area.

Judges score each individual piece on a scale of one to four, four being the highest. Of all the fours, seven percent go to state.

“So far, I have scored a four every time but I have never made it to state,” senior Mary Schmieg said. “That’s kind of my goal for this year, to make it to state.”

With over 20 categories, Ms. Funk said the most entered in categories are drawing and painting, although photography is working to be a more popular category.

“We don’t do much for the students, it’s more individual for them,” Ms. Funk said. “Aside from a few practice interviews and mounting their work, it’s all on their own work.”

According to senior Daniella Quinta-Valdespino, she is competing in VASE because it looks nice on college applications, and the experience of meeting new people with similar interests.

“My overall experience has been really hectic,” Quinta-Valdespino said. “There’s a lot of people, but I keep doing it because it’s cool to get critiques from new people.”

Entering a colored pencil portrait of a friend and an acrylic painting self portrait, Schmeig has put over ten hours into each of her pieces of artwork.

“I have spent a lot of time at home perfecting and editing my entries and making everything the best I can for VASE,” Schmeig said. “I’ve learned new things from past competitions to apply to my art and it’s been a really good learning experience.”

Receiving the results that day, the students get  immediate critiques to improve and better themselves for advancement to state.