Art students across campus and throughout Frisco ISD competed in the annual VASE art competition Saturday, with multiple pieces scoring high marks and one advancing to the state competition. 

“Overall VASE was really good this year,” art teacher Fred Rodriguez said. “I had five students who went this year and they all made a four on their score which is really good.”

This year brought many changes to the competition, most of which art teacher Pernie Fallon thinks are positive. 

“VASE was really exciting,” Fallon said. “We had a new venue at Reedy High School this year, right here in Frisco, so it was really easy to transport the group to VASE and once we got there things were organized and it went very smoothly.”

While several students received the top score of four on their pieces, sophomore Sarah Boutouis is the only one to advance to the state level.

“It feels great being the only person who made it to VASE state because there were so many great artists competing,” Boutouis said. “I was pretty honored to be the only one who made it.”

After watching students compete in VASE for several years, Fallon believes there is no way to truly guess how each year is going to go.

“There were several pieces that I thought were really worthy of going to state, and I had my fingers crossed, but I’ve learned over the years that I can’t outguess the judges,” Fallon said. “Sometimes they pick things that I would never choose, and the pieces I think should go don’t get picked. “

Although the number of students qualifying for VASE wasn’t as high as Fallon had hoped, she says it doesn’t detract from the experience. 

“I’m really proud of my students, they’ve worked really hard and their work was exceptional,” Fallon said. “It was an inspiring experience as well as a humbling one.”