Revere High School (RHS) hosted its annual Celebration of the Arts (COA) show to celebrate all of the artwork made by students across the district this year.
Each year, Revere hosts a week of the art show in the gymnasium at RHS to celebrate the whole district. Every grade and class is celebrated with its own category that the works are arranged, judged and announced in. The categories include ceramics, digital art, black and white drawing, color drawing, 2D mixed media, acrylic painting, watercolor painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, textile art, painting, mixed media, 3D and drawing. Each student has a choice to submit up to six pieces that were completed during the 2025-2026 school year and have a chance to receive an award on pieces they choose to submit. Winners receive ribbons for their work. This year, the show was held from May 4 through May 7.
The COA also allows seniors to display their work in a unique way. Every senior has the opportunity to display a senior booth at the show, displaying all of their favorite pieces throughout their high school career. There are twenty five seniors who displayed a booth this year: Ruby Aldrich, Emmy Beesley, Laine Bruce, Elle Burns, Harrison Drvenkar, Lucy Drouhard, Leila Gardner, Carson Hull, Kayla Kucharski, Tommy Long, Sophia Massouh, Lilly Miller, Hailey Morrison, Max O’Banion, Kalden Orr-Bills, Tori Parish, Natasha Pokrajac, Sofia Rauschert, Kate Saltis, Ella Stalnaker, Kerrigan Stanoch, Georgia Stanley, Jade Steiger, Sophia Stencel and Ellie York. The senior booths aim to represent the seniors’ stories and display who they are as a whole. Seniors decorate their booths and pick art to hang in them that reveal what they are passionate about.
Karen Smik, co-chair with Marianne Grandon for the 2026 Revere COA planning committee, has volunteered in the art show for over twenty years. Smik explained how the judges are chosen and how awards are chosen.
“[The COA has] twelve judges this year. Some are art teachers, including individuals from the University of Akron, Cleveland Institute of Art, Tri-C and Kent State University, and some are artists,” Smik said.
The judges are in charge of awards and follow a mixed criteria of both their own and a sheet provided to them by the planning committee to determine first, second and third place winners as well as honorable mentions and best of show.
“Three judges are assigned to each grouping of categories. There are eleven categories total, so [the judges] can discuss the artwork and determine as a group which pieces will be awarded and what their place will be. The judges also select our ‘Best of Show’ entry. After the individual category judging is complete, all first place entries in each category from all grade levels—ninth, tenth, eleventh and twelfth—are set out. The judges are given a special form to record their vote on. The COA committee then tabulates all the votes and determines the ‘Best of Show’ winner based on voting results. [The winner] receives a two hundred and twenty five dollar Amazon gift card,” Smik said.
Other awards that are cash prizes are decided by a range of committees and alumni. Awards include the “PTA Choice” award, best body of work in senior display and the 2026 Revere COA logo design contest winner. Awards were presented at the RHS Awards Ceremony on Monday, May 4 following the Revere Middle School awards ceremony. RHS Principal Doug Faris and Revere Superintendent Dan White distribute the awards. On a projected screen, the COA plays a slideshow displaying the artworks awarded, their category, award and who made the art. Volunteers are recruited from the high school to assist in setting up and tearing down the show.
“[The COA] recruit[ed] student and adult volunteers to help with both the . . . set up and . . . [the] tear down. Set up [lasts a few days], primarily for RHS seniors who are setting up their display booths. For set up, we first set up display panels and tables needed for the artwork. Then all the artwork is brought into the RHS auxiliary gym and leveled, students name grade, art category and title of work. All 2D entries have Velcro placed on them in order to attach the pieces to the panels. The final step is to place all the 2D entries on the display panels and the 3D entries on the tables,” Smik said.
Seniors are given the opportunity to showcase their artistic talent and growth in the form of a senior booth. Seniors pick their best works from high school and earlier to display a story of their growth in art, as a person or just a way of showing something huge is a huge part of their life.
RHS art teacher Jennifer Seegert prepares for the art show by keeping open communication with the volunteers that run it like Smik.
“To prepare for the show, [us art teachers] are in constant communication with our [Parent, Teacher, Student Association] (PTSA) volunteers, the office admin and our custodial staff. Planning for the next art show begins just days after the current show comes down. There are schedules to navigate and lots of planning behind the scenes. For the past few years, there [has been] an online show as well as the one in the aux[iliary] gym, so that process has to be completed as well as preparing the actual work,” Seegert said.
Other than keeping communication with the COA committee, Seegert also must keep communication with the students submitting art and the other art teachers as she helps prepare.
“[Art teachers] make announcements to our students in the weeks before Submission Day about the show and the process for submissions. A few days before the deadline, we use class time to have the students review their work, mat their work, photograph it, submit it online and fill out the physical form for entry. We then collect all the art work and double-check to make sure each student has completed all steps of the process. Then it moves on to our PTSA volunteers to again check that mats are on, forms are complete, online forms and photos match up with the work we’ve collected and that everything is categorized appropriately. During this time, the volunteers are also making contact with area artists and Revere art alumni to serve as judges for the art work and the booths,” Seegert said.
The list of judges for RHS includes Patrick Hargreaves judging ceramics, textiles and sculpture; Wendy Hess judging ceramics, textiles and sculpture; Laura McAndrews judging ceramics, textiles and sculpture; Cheri Homaee judging digital art, printmaking, photography and 2D mixed media; Lauren Juratovac judging digital art, printmaking, photographing and 2D mixed media; Allison Rozo judging drawing; Kristina Tartara judging drawing; Tessa Torowski judging drawing; Rob Crombie judging painting; Sally Heston judging painting; Daly Horton judging painting; Jess Raimondo and Audrey Pierson judging the senior booths.
“The weekend before the show opening, the seniors with booths, Revere student volunteers and PTSA volunteers come to the auxiliary gym to set up the art show,” Seegert said.
A common theme in all of the COA prep is PTSA, PTA and volunteer parents and students who choose to spend their time helping with the set up and running of the art show. Jillian Newlan, the Bath Elementary School (BES) art teacher, also has an amazing set of volunteers to help her with setting up.
“I am very fortunate to have help from an incredible PTA parent volunteer who gives their time to assist with organizing, labeling and setting up the artwork in the gym. The art show truly would not be possible without the support of our volunteers and community,” Newman said.
There is art from every grade level and artistic ability in the art show, from each building and art teacher. Newman makes a point to include artwork from every grade with as many students as possible. The art show has changed in recent years in middle school band director Katie Pflueger’s eyes as the addition of other visual and musical entertainment has been added.
“Since I started at Revere, the art show has become more collaborative and inclusive of different programs. From my perspective, there has been a stronger emphasis on bringing together visual art, music and sometimes even other performing arts into one shared event. It feels less like separate displays and more like a true celebration of the arts where students can see how their work connects with others across disciplines,” Pflueger said.
