Chasity Hale, a high school senior from Miami Arts Charter School for the Arts, is set to follow in the footsteps of some of the world’s greatest creative leaders including Truman Capote, Sylvia Plath and Lena Dunham.
Hale recently was named a national Gold Medal Portfolio recipient in the 2017 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards — the nation’s longest-running and most prestigious recognition and scholarship program for creative teens. She will be awarded a $10,000 scholarship.
This year, the nonprofit Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, which administers the awards, received 330,000-plus submissions from students in grades 7-12 across the country. Hale is one of 16 students to receive a Gold Medal Portfolio, which is the program’s highest honor and only available to graduating seniors.
In addition, Hale, was a 2015 National Student Poet — signature initiative of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the nonprofit Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. It is the nation’s highest honor for young poets presenting original work.
A video interview of Hale from 2015 is available at www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnk4XWJjIoQ
Her writing portfolio covers topics from race in America, gender identity and climate change. Her goal is to take diverse experiences and showcase these wide range of topics are interconnected for all of us.
Hale’s work will be featured in a special exhibition at The New School’s Parsons School of Design and Pratt Institute’s Pratt Manhattan Gallery also in New York City, opening June 2. She also is invited to attend to be honored on stage in a special ceremony at Carnegie Hall.
