Sitting there, holding each other’s hands, waiting for the judges to announce the winners had to be the most stressful time of the whole journey.

We were a team of eight girls competing in a New York state program called the Olympics of the Visual Arts, or OVA. This is an annual competition with different categories you can participate in, such as painting, photography, architecture, and fashion design. In the fall, they release the year’s long-term problem, which will be the theme of your project. To be judged, all the teams travel to Saratoga Springs with their works of art in April. They will also solve the short-term, or spontaneous, problem that is given out that day. This is a quick group activity you do as a team on the spot at the convention center. There is also a required portfolio. In many cases, this is in the form of a book that shows the entire process of the project.

We would be participating in the category of Middle School Painting. Our long-term problem was to turn a masterpiece into a black and white painting. My team and I decided to recreate three famous works of art which were “Girl Before a Mirror,” by Pablo Picasso, “Self-Portrait with Monkey,” by Frida Kahlo, and “Girl with Pearl Earring,” by Johannes Vermeer.

I was thinking back to all the hard work we’d put in for this day- staying after school until nine o’clock some nights, going to school on Saturdays, spending free time researching about these paintings and artists. All of my teammates worked so hard. Each of us had a job we gravitated toward, or felt most comfortable doing. Some people liked to put the book together, and others preferred to do research. Working on the paintings themselves was my preferred task. One of my most strenuous tasks was painting the leaves on the Kahlo piece, which was probably my favorite and most fun to work on.

We sat there waiting and waiting. It felt like hours, but in reality, it was maybe half an hour. I remember my hands feeling cold and clammy. You could feel everyone’s nervousness in the room. Slowly, the judges made their way through the winners of the other categories. The winner of fashion design, another team from my district, was called to the stage. When they announced that they were now in the middle school painting category, my heart was already pounding. By then, I was so anxious that everything became sort of fuzzy. The main thing I remembering happening afterward was the team and I standing up and walking toward the stage. As we went to receive our ribbons, I realized we placed third. At the time, I was so disappointed and immediately started thinking about what could’ve been better about the project. Our teacher who was leading us in the whole competition was really happy and tried to take pictures of us while we walked back to our seats. None of us were really smiling, or even looking at the camera. I think we were all still in a shock, dazed by the place we’d been given, not knowing what to do.

Looking back, I appreciate being able to participate in this great opportunity. It was truly an amazing learning experience to explore the art world. OVA helped me to grow a lot artistically and socially. I left the school year with many more friends that I started it out with. If I was ever given another chance to participate, I wouldn’t have to think twice about taking part in this challenge again.