Gen O Story by Wendy Townley • Photos by minorwhitestudios.com Top: Zhang pictured with her family. Bottom: Zhang with Meryl Streep at the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards inside Carnegie Hall in New York City.
Yan Zhang
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Scholastic Art & Writing Scholarship Winner HE LENS WITH WHICH 17-year-
old Yan Zhang sees the world is that of a recent high school graduate. On the heels of a successful four years at Millard West High School, Zhang crossed the stage on May 26, accepted her diploma, and looked at the wide vistas of her future. For as long as she can remember, Zhang, who was born in China and moved to the United States with her parents at age 3, found it easiest and most enjoyable to describe her surroundings and experiences with words. With little books she crafted as a child, to essays, poetry, and other nonfiction pieces of today, there is no doubt that Zhang is a writer. Zhang’s works have garnered the attention of a prestigious organization and, as a result, earned her an impressive award with a $10,000 cash scholarship. Out of more than 200,000 submissions in 28 categories, the 89th Annual Scholastic Art & Writing Awards presented Zhang on June 1 with its Portfolio Gold Medal (the competition’s highest honor). Only 15 graduating high www.ReadOnlineNow.com
Photo: Stuart Ramson for Scholastic, Inc
school seniors in the U.S. earned the award this year: half are writers; the other half, artists. In a special ceremony at Carnegie Hall in New York City, Zhang and the other teen winners heard from three-time Academy Award®-winning actress Meryl Streep. Zhang, the daughter of John Zhang and Hongyang Tan of Omaha, actually learned of the award through an advanced studio art class last fall at Millard West. She submitted two entries in the national contest: one for art, one for writing. An impressive list of jurors—The New Yorker magazine contributor/humorist and best-selling author David Sedaris among them—picked Zhang’s writings for the award. Her award-winning portfolio includes nonfiction/memoir essays, poetry, and short stories. The works were not written in previous classes at Millard West, but rather in Zhang’s own time. For her, writing has become a calling and something she works to perfect, each and every day. “Writing lets you put an idea into words,” she says. “When you write, you make art using words. And other people can relate to it. It’s almost like a legacy or a monument, really. Your writing can inspire others.” Zhang’s inspirations are often found in her favorite authors: Tim O’Brien, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Arthur C. Clarke, to name a few. So what’s next for Zhang? As of press time, she has applied for a mentoring program in lowincome schools in Ohio. If selected, Zhang will mentor for the next year and attend Harvard University (where she has already been accepted) in 2013, majoring in government, history, and English. To read The Photographer by Yan Zhang, log onto www.facebook.com/OmahaMagazine/notes july/august • 2012
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