OCA student snags Gold Seal
May 21—Piper Weekly is not only in the top 10 at Odessa Collegiate Academy, but he's the Gold Seal winner in the state Visual Arts Scholastic Event competition.
This is Weekly's fourth year at OCA and he plans to attend Texas Tech University and study art.
Weekly, 17, said winning the Gold Seal was thrilling.
"I felt amazing because it's the highest honor you can earn in art ... school-wise, so I was not expecting to win. It's probably the greatest feelings I've ever had," Weekly said.
The winning piece was a portrait of his art teacher, Bryant Golden.
"I was hoping to win, but I wasn't expecting it," Weekly said.
In college, he plans to study digital art.
"I started taking art seriously when I went to my freshman year," he said.
He added that he took classes in middle school, but didn't think he would pursue a degree until last year.
Weekly said digital art is more appealing to him than traditional mediums.
"... I have a very hard time using the mediums, and the way I see it, digital art is part of the future for art and so I want to be riding the wave of that," he added.
He also landed in at No. 7 of the top 10 students.
"... I was really proud of myself whenever I found out," he said.
He had been working for it since his last year of middle school.
"In eighth grade, I started taking high school classes and that's when I was like I want to be in the top 10," Weekly said.
He added that he's nervous about graduating, but looking forward to it at the same time "because it's a new step in my life."
Weekly has been to visit Texas Tech.
"I think it's beautiful. I visited my dorm and everything and the art district where I'm going to take all my classes ... This has been one of the best experiences I've ever had in my life," he added.
