Scholastic Arts & Writing Awards recognizes Chen at Carnegie Hall

Sabrina Chen signals ‘thumbs-up’ approval after receiving her national medal at the Scholastic Arts & Writing Awards’ ceremony at Carnegie Hall in New York City. (CONTRIBUTED)

MADISON – Sabrina Chen recently collected numerous honors from Scholastic Arts & Writing Awards at New York City’s Carnegie Hall.

Chen is a junior at Bob Jones High School.

In its 91st year, Scholastic is a major international art/writing competition for high school students. Students can enter in 25 categories, like flash fiction, memoir, sculpture, painting and humor.

Students vie for “keys,” or awards at gold, silver or honorable mention levels. “I was very fortunate to receive eight regional keys and a national silver medal in poetry,” Chen said. Six Alabama students received medals, including Bob Jones graduate and poet Kristie Martins.

In New York, Chen viewed award-winning artwork at Parsons New School of Design and Pratt Institute before the final ceremony at Carnegie Hall.

Chen’s poetry collection included the stoic “Armor,” “Dream Song” allegory of morality and mathematics, “Trinity’s Asymptote” and “Timepiece of a Charlatan.” Her collection “documents an experiment in vulnerability and reactions to crossroads.”

“Our universe is not how we perceive it to be but merely exists because … we’re constantly in a state of changing perception,” Chen said.

Chen previous attended Randolph School and Phillips (N.H.) Exeter Academy.

In 2013, Chen was a state co-coach for the National MATHCOUNTS team that competed in Washington D.C. She entered the Alabama Science Olympiad and Spelling Bee three years.

“The Winter Tangerine Review,” “Poetry Quarterly” and “Society of Classical Poets” have published her work. She won nationally with JustPoetry and founded the Eat Pie Institute of Mathematics, which supplies study material for MATHCOUNTS and other national math contests.

This summer, Chen is teaching four classes in discrete mathematics for “Eat Pie.”

Her goal “is to combine the sciences and humanities; somehow, someday. I’ve been interested in theoretical physics, focusing on string theory and quantum loop gravity.”

“STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) and poetry will always culminate in the ultimate bond … It’s the whimsy yet reason … we have always sought to balance out,” Chen said.

For more information, visit artandwriting.org.