Since 2016, YES Prep has hosted the Annual Holiday Card Contest where art students from all of our 19 secondary schools are invited to participate. Of the art pieces created, the YES Prep art teachers select the top entries for their school. This year, 31 entries were submitted for consideration. The winning entry becomes YES Prep Public Schools’ official holiday card, which is mailed out to YES Prep friends and supporters during the holiday season.
This year’s 2020 Holiday Card Contest winner is Christian Avila, ninth-grader from YES Prep Southeast Secondary.
We have included the top 12 holiday cards below, listed in alphabetical order.
Student: Christian Avila
Grade: 9
School: YES Prep Southeast Secondary
Art teacher: Jennifer Crancer
Artwork name: Winter Love
About the piece: My piece represents the peace and love that should be passed around this time of the year, which is the end of the year in many calendars. The doves in the artwork emphasize the peace that everybody can have within communities and cultures. The heart symbolizes the love that every person should share no matter their religion, race, ideals, level of education, gender, age, or social status. I chose to use a spread of cool colors, like green and blue, to make the viewers feel a sense of calm and pink, a light warm color, adds a bit of excitement to the calmness of the artwork.
What does YES Prep mean to you? YES Prep to me means, opportunities, somewhere where leaders are born, a place where students can be themselves, and a place where students can overachieve and prove many they could lead and change our world for the better.
Christian’s artwork was selected by YES Prep Public Schools’ as the 2020 holiday card.
Check out our student spotlight on Christian Avila by clicking here.
Student: Ashley Davila
Grade: 10
School: YES Prep Southeast Secondary
Art teacher: Jennifer Crancer
Artwork name: Season Openings
Inspiration behind art: My inspiration is that art is really cool to me. The colors inspire me so much because it makes the piece of art bloom out. I really enjoy art.
What does YES Prep mean to you? YES Prep means family and it is engaging. I always learn new and different things every day.
Student: Jasmine Escovar
School: YES Prep Southwest
Grade: 10 grade
Art teacher: Heather Sportsman
Artwork name: Winter Night
Inspiration behind art: The thing that inspired me to draw this was my love for winter. I am fascinated by winter because I find it to be a calming season. I imagined a nice, quiet peaceful winter night.
Jasmine’s artwork was selected by Alta Resources as their 2020 holiday card.
Student: Ashley Gonzalez
Grade: 12
School: YES Prep Southeast Secondary
Art teacher: Jennifer Crancer
Artwork name: My Snow Globe
Inspiration behind art: The inspiration behind my art was that it resembled a memory of my family being together when I was younger. I chose a snow globe because it was my favorite item during the winter holidays, and I tried to remember how it looked like since I no longer have it.
What does YES Prep mean to you? YES Prep has helped me and my family by helping me think about my future. Without YES I would have struggled with my future plans and my career goals. I feel like YES Prep has impacted me so much in education and being able to have, for instance, junior and senior seminars to help me get into college. I am very grateful for the benefits I have received at YES.
Student: Kimberly Herrera
Grade: 9
School: YES Prep Northline
Art teacher: Michael Healey
Artwork name: Sleepy, Snowy Day
Inspiration behind art: I saw my cat sleeping peacefully by the window and just imagined a nice snowy scenery in the background.
What does YES Prep mean to you? YES Prep means opportunity to me because I learn but also do social activities.
Student: Brenda Pineda
Grade: 10
School: YES Prep Southeast Secondary
Art teacher: Jennifer Crancer
Artwork name: Winter Nature
Inspiration behind art: A Bob Ross art tutorial and gingerbread houses.
What does YES Prep mean to you? YES Prep is community and friends. YES Prep encourages us to give our most academically.
Student: Fabiola Salazar
Grade: 10
School: YES Prep Southeast Secondary
Art teacher: Jennifer Crancer
Artwork name: Holiday Love
Inspiration behind art: I wanted to draw something simple that could celebrate any type of holiday.
Fabiola’s artwork was selected by Denham Capital Management LP as their 2020 holiday card.
Student: Victor Torres
Grade: 8
School: YES Prep Gulfton
Art teacher: Lanese Giles
Artwork name: Winter Night
Inspiration behind art: I thought of beautiful winter landscapes.
What does YES Prep mean to you? YES Prep has lots of meaning to me but the best part of being with YES Prep is that we all are a community, and we all have each other's backs.
Student: Edith Vargas
Grade: 9
School: YES Prep Northline
Art teacher: Michael Healey
Artwork name: ICP Love
Inspiration behind art: My love for penguins.
What does YES Prep mean to you? YES Prep means to become a better image of me and to do more than what I am capable of.
Student: Yarissa Yerena
Grade: 9
School: YES Prep Northline
Art teacher: Michael Healey
Artwork name: Holidays deer to my heart
Inspiration behind art: My inspiration came from the vacation home my family has. We usually go during the holidays but that has been difficult due to COVID. When we are there, the deer come out at night and early in the morning which gave me inspiration for this drawing.
What does YES Prep mean to you? YES Prep to me means community and the type of education that goes beyond what you learn in the classroom.
Student: Kayenat Yousofi
Grade: 10
School: YES Prep Gulfton
Art teacher: Lanese Giles
Artwork name: Snowman Smiling
Inspiration behind art: I was inspired by the times in my past when I built snowmen in Afghanistan.
What does YES Prep mean to you? When I think of YES Prep, I think of peace. When I lived in Afghanistan, sometimes I didn’t feel safe. YES Prep Gulfton, to me, represents peace.
Student: Malika Yousofi
Grade: 10
School: YES Prep Gulfton
Art teacher: Lanese Giles
Artwork name: Santa’s Ride
Inspiration behind art: I was inspired by my memories of building my first snowman as a child in Afghanistan.
What does YES Prep mean to you? YES Prep means “family” to me. I see everyone working together like a family.
Art submissions for our annual Holiday Card Contest usually begins in early October and are coordinated through YES Prep’s secondary schools’ art teachers. Check out our past holiday card winners: YES Prep Southeast’s Daniella Diaz (2019) and YES Prep Gulfton’s Mariel Almazan (2018) who was just named as one of QuestBridge’s 2020 recipients.