Alexis Stepanek ‘04 received a Scholastic National Gold Medal and her artwork will be included in the National Student Art Show this summer. The National Student Art Show is sponsored by the Alliance of Young Artists and Writers. Scholastic Art Awards is the oldest and most prestigious competition in the nation for young artists and writers.

Alexis’s piece, “New York, New York,” chosen from 17,000 pieces submitted nationwide, is among the 260 Gold Medals awarded nationally. Only 350 pieces will be exhibited in the National Student Art Show. Alexis is invited for a four-day event in New York City, which includes an awards ceremony at Carnegie Hall, an awards dinner, and three days of workshops, visits to artists’ studios, and behind-the-scenes visits to museums.

Alexis’s love for photography goes back for as long as she can remember. Her interest in art blossomed when she was in middle school at The Grosse Pointe Academy, and a particularly strong influence was art teacher Bryan Zink. “Art class with Mr. Zink helped me a lot in finding different ways to approach things,” she says. It was then that she got interested in art as more than just a hobby.

Alexis has pursued a variety of art classes at Grosse Pointe South, where she is currently a junior. In addition to photography, she has enrolled in classes in drawing, painting, sculpture, ceramics and communication design. She is interested in taking her interest further in college, perhaps exploring documentary photography or photojournalism.

In addition, Alexis has taken classes at the Center for Creative Studies in digital photography, figure drawing and glass blowing. “The glass blowing didn’t work out too well,” she admits. “It was extremely difficult.” Over spring break in April, Alexis made arrangements with the Detroit News to job shadow two photojournalists over the course of two days. In addition, examples of her work, including the piece “New York, New York,” were on display at South’s spring art show.

Having started her education at the Academy when she was four, Alexis credits her elementary school years for providing her with a well-rounded education, which included involvement in athletics. She participated on middle school cross country, basketball, volleyball and soccer teams. She continued with cross country at South, and has carried over her interest in volleyball as an assistant coach at GPA. She and fellow alumna Anna Basse have coached the Academy JV teams for the past two years. “It’s been a lot of fun,” says Alexis. “The girls are great to work with and very upbeat.”

As a recent graduate of the Academy, Alexis has the following advice to share with this year’s eighth graders: “Don’t be shy. Get out and do the best you can,” she says. “Don’t stress out that you went to a small school if you are going to a bigger high school. Get involved and do what you can and stick with it.”