Art doesn’t come easily to everyone: it takes time, patience and practice. For Solon High School senior Ramneet Kaur, creating art is second nature, as she was recently commended at the 2017 Scholastic Art and Writing Contest for her talent.

Out of 330,000 entries, less than 1% were recognized at the national level. Ramneet Kaur took home a Silver Medal for her piece, despite not anticipating any accolades for her submission.

“I wasn’t really expecting my work to receive much attention, since I tried to enter a piece a few years ago and didn’t win anything,” Ramneet Kaur said. “So, learning about the national medal was definitely a pleasant surprise, and even more so because I know I have improved from that earlier competition to now. Winning a Silver Medal showed me that other people saw the value and improvement in my work, as well.”

Kaur doesn’t plan on pursuing a career in the arts, but she described the unique skills that drawing has allowed her to perfect, and how she’ll be able to apply them to a different field.

“From the beginning, I’ve always wanted to pursue the medical path. But that never stopped me from advancing my [art] skills,” Kaur said. “It’s something I have enjoyed doing throughout my life, and I’ll continue to enjoy it even if my professional interests are different. Practicing art for so long has enabled me to fine tune so many skills, including an increased attention to detail and a steadier hand, all of which could be useful in any career. And there’s often a time when you could harness those skills to improve someone else’s life, whether it be a handmade birthday card or a portrait. That’s always a useful skill to have.”

Junior Kuljit Kaur described her sister’s passion for art as well as the process she goes through when drawing something new for class.

“When Ramneet has free time, she loves to draw while listening to music and she claims it’s very relaxing for her,” Kuljit Kaur said. “She feels more stressed when she has an art project because there’s a deadline and she loves to just take her time on her drawing. She also doesn’t like to have to draw something, she likes to do it when she would like to do it. It’s incredible how naturally talented she is.”

Kuljit Kaur also expressed how happy her entire family was for Ramneet Kaur’s achievement. The award-winning etching Ramneet created was also of her own mother as a young girl, which only added to the pride that her parents felt for the piece’s success.

“After Ramneet won the Silver Medal, first I wanted to see her artwork again over and over because it’s an amazing piece of art,” Kuljit Kaur said. “And I was so happy for her because she placed her artwork into the contest, not knowing if her art would be recognized. I’m okay with her not getting a gold medal. A Silver Medal is enough and it’s really great that she has a way to display her hard work and capability in the artistic field. Our family was also very happy, our mom wanted to take a lot of pictures and post them onto her Facebook, she was way too excited.”

Jennifer Thompson, Ramneet Kaur’s art teacher, spoke of Ramneet Kaur’s character, creativity and desire to go beyond what is required of her in the classroom.

“Ramneet is a hard worker, she’s always been, she’ll take stuff home and work at home,” Thompson said. “It’s not just her skills, her ideas are intense. She’s working on some projects now that are pretty cool– she always takes it a step further.”

Thompson, along with Ramneet Kaur’s family, felt proud of her upon earning her honors at the competition. According to her, beating out so many opponents from so many different areas is nothing short of spectacular.

“I’m extremely proud,” Thompson said. “She’s incredible, everybody looks up to her and looks at her work during class. She’s constantly working so everybody always looks over to see what she’s doing.”

Ramneet Kaur thanked her parents and teachers for giving her the tools necessary to become the artist she is today. Whether it be providing encouragement and motivation, or simply the utensils to create new art, Ramneet Kaur’s success can be attributed to those that helped her along the way.

“I’d thank my parents for letting me doodle to my heart’s content and buying me all the supplies I need to comfortably continue my passion, and my siblings for giving me my first ‘professional’ critiques. My teachers for noticing the small-to-massive art pieces I would lug around from class to class, and especially Mrs.Thompson for helping me expand my skills to reach the point I’m at now. And also my friends and classmates, for praising all my works.”