J.E. Richards Middle student Gabriel Campoy-Gonzalez thinks school is cool and recently expressed it through his national-award winning work of art. The Gwinnett County Public Schools (GCPS) rising 8th grader earned a national award in the National Education Association (NEA) National Kids’ Art Contest, competing with more than 1,000 other pieces from around the nation.

Gabriel and his teacher, J. E. Richards Middle visual arts teacher Kimberly Robinson, entered the national contest earlier this spring. As part of NEA’s 150th birthday commemoration, the national organization sponsored an art contest that celebrates the students and schools from across the nation. Students and teachers were invited to submit original two-dimensional media artwork; drawing, painting, print, photograph, mixed, or digital. They picked one of three themes; what’s cool about school, my favorite teacher, or school of the future. The Gwinnett middle school student’s drawing, which used the theme “What’s cool about school,” placed second in the grades 7-9 category, winning a $100 prize.

Gabriel’s artwork was judged based on images that dealt with the themes, and how he expressed himself in the work and made use of space.