Alumni News -- Scholastic Award

Cyrus Shares His  Experience Traveling to New York to Accept the 2015 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards Silver Medal

   This Summer Cyrus spent time on the Monarch Campus
   volunteering as a intern. While he was here he shared 
   with us his wonderful experience traveling to New York
   to receive the Silver Medal in the 2015 Scholastic Art &
   Writing Awards.
 
  As a writer, Cyrus wanted to express his experience
  through the written word.

   
"The invitation to express my gratitude once more to Monarch for helping me to overcome selective mutism, as well as indulge my enthusiasm for generating new ideas about social institutions and conveying them to the public, was one that I could not decline.  This invitation came in the form of the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards—which has claimed such notable alumni as Andy Warhol, Joyce Carol Oates, and Truman Capote—and which I discovered had a Personal Essay/Memoir section, to which I could not resist submitting a short paper on the topic last December.  In the throes of a busy junior year, I was to promptly forget the submission, leaving it in the hands of an undisclosed ensemble of judges; and only in mid-February was I reminded of this relic of my sentiments when I received the email stating that I had won a Gold Key at the county level—and then a National Silver Medal, come March.

It was for the latter award that I was given the opportunity to visit New York City to accept it at Carnegie Hall.  The ceremony was festive and elegant, with such esteemed speakers as Chelsea Clinton, Whoopi Goldberg, and Glee’s Matthew Morrison, who spoke not only of the prize’s prestige—which carries little weight if it is not lived up to in the years that follow—but also of the obligations of the artist to society.  (What inspires, Clinton contends, is of equal importance to the artist as what angers; the artist must be aware of the culture around him in order to react to injustice and, where possible, present alternatives.)  In these regards, I am honored if I have brought the ideals of the Monarch School to a broader audience; and, no less, if the Scholastic medal is to be, as my former teacher Mr. J put it, “just another stepping stone in what will be a life filled with recognition and service to others.” -- Cyrus. 

 - Original Story - May 2015

Monarch Alumni Awarded 2015 Scholastic 
Art & Writing Awards Silver Medal

   Monarch alumni Cyrus Pacht is creative writing
   student at The High School for the Performing
   and Visual Arts (HSPVA). 

   Cyrus has been awarded a Silver Medal from
   the 2015 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards for
   his personal essay, "Down the Vista of Years:
                             The Story of an Education." 

Cyrus notes, "This is the Competition, which claims notable alumni
Andy Warhol, Joyce Carol Oates, and Truman Capote."
    
Cyrus will be going to New York City for the festivities in June. 
Click here to read the award winning essay by Cyrus Pacht.