Shhhhh! Don’t tell anyone, but Highlands County middle school students are great artists. The kids, ranging in age from 11 to 14, showed off their talent in the Garland Boggus Board Room at the School Board’s Administration Building on Nov. 7.
The lucky winner will join 66 other middle school students who will have their winning entries displayed in the state Capitol building in Tallahassee.
The competition, authorized by Florida statute, is a voluntary statewide visual arts competition involving public, charter, and private school students in all 67 counties. They pick up paint brushes, sketch pencils and other media and put their skills to work creating outstanding art.
Heather Goodwin, assistant to the superintendent for secondary curriculum, says the boys and girls put their hearts into their work.
“We had four judges from elementary and high schools to judge the art,” she said. “There were about a hundred middle school students who entered. I’m sure it wasn’t easy picking the winners.”
Students didn’t learn who won until Nov. 7 when parents and students were invited to the board room at 6 p.m. The grand champion and subsequent winners were displayed on stands in a middle table.
Raleigh Respress, Grand Champion: The most striking piece was a portrait of a young woman painted by eighth-grader Raleigh Respress of Avon Park Middle School. The colorful rendering won her Grand Champion in the Art in the Capitol, and that’s where it will be on display between January and March 2026.Elizabeth Goudge, first place: Goudge, who is in the eighth grade at Avon Park Middle School, won first place for her rendering of a Florida landscape.Claire Brooker of Sebring Middle School won second place for her use of pencil, colored paper, and pen to create a memorable rendition of a calf.Third place went to Melani Esquivel for her brilliantly colored Macaw that seems to jump out from the frame.
There were eight honorable mentions in addition to the winners, Goodwin said.
This is the 10th annual Art in the Capitol competition.