Arman Zadeh, sports editor 
Senior Ramtin Mobasheri and junior Shishi Teeguarden were recently recognized by Scholastic Inc. for their achievements in art in this year’s Scholastic Art and Writing competition. Teeguarden received the Silver Key award and Mobasheri was given an Honorable Mention.
Both Teeguarden and Mobasheri heard of the opportunity from their Advanced Graphics Design teacher, Deb Joseph, and soon began working on their projects.
“One of our class requirements is to submit artwork to at least one awards show,” Teeguarden said. “Our teacher strongly supports our artistic abilities and knows most of us wouldn’t have the guts to do it if it wasn’t for that extra push.”

Mobasheri was inspired by his family visit to Canada over the past summer to base his project off the city of Toronto. The project took Mobasheri about three days to finalize and was created from scratch. Mobasheri was both humbled and shocked when he learned he had won an award.
“There were so many other great pieces that were entered in the competition and I felt privileged that mine was even recognized,” Mobasheri said.
Teeguarden, on the other hand, was inspired by her hometown of Los Angeles. Originally driven by her teacher’s assignment, Teeguarden soon became motivated by her own curiosity to see how her talent compared to others.
“My map took me a lot longer than I expected and I actually had to turn it in a few weeks later than the class deadline,” Teeguarden said. “I’m not sure how long I worked on it but it was well over a month of constantly working and trying to improve upon it. I’m really glad I put the hard work into [the map] though because I like how it turned out.”
In order to complete the project with her own personal touch, Teeguarden changed her teacher’s original prompt for the project by using her own preferences.
“Obviously my map didn’t follow the prompt exactly, because there’s no way you could actually find your way around Los Angeles using my map,” Teeguarden said. “That’s the great part about art though; the more creative you are with twisting the criteria, the better it turns out and the better grade you get.”
After his recent success, Mobasheri is continuing to explore his passion for art by starting his own graphic design business, Hammerhead Studios.
“It’s a new business I’m starting up. I make logos, business cards, flyers and so forth for professional companies,” Mobasheri said.
Mobasheri is currently working on connecting with clientele and creating a business site that he hopes will be running in about two months.
Teeguarden also plans to continue expressing her love for art by creating more class projects.
“I can get extemely invested in my projects and try to incorporate my style into them, so it’s tough to find time to work on anything non class related,” Teeguarden said.