Congressman Sessions Speaks, Presents Awards
Hudgins Hall on the Angelina College Campus on Saturday served as one of four state-wide sites for the 2025 Congressional Art Competition, with Congressman Pete Sessions (TX-17) serving as host and awards presenter.
Young artists from high schools throughout the Deep East Texas region participated in the contest’s “America the Beautiful” theme, with six of those students receiving awards on Saturday.
First-place artist was Alicia Dowell of Nacogdoches High School, whose work “Shooting Star” will be one of four works judged for a shot at a national competition. In addition, Angelina College president Dr. Michael Simon and AC Gallery Director/Instructor Le’Anne Alexander presented Dowell with a scholarship check.
Other award recipients included the following: 2nd place, “Daughter of Betsy” by Kathryn Willis (Lufkin High School); 3rd place, “The Intrepid Passage” by Bryan Campbell (Pineywoods Community Academy); 4th place, “Evening Reflections by Jacqueline Martinez (Cushing High School); 5th place, “Celebrate Freedom” by Elsi Garcia (Martinsville High School); and 6th place, “American Dream” by Kodi Cole (Cushing High School).
According to Sessions, the four winners – Dowell, along with winning artists from Waco, Round Rock and Huntsville – will have their works travel with Sessions back to his office in Waco, where judges will select a first-place winner. Sessions then will transport the winning work to his office in the United States Capitol, and in June, the winning artist will fly to Washington for a presentation. The artwork will remain on display inside the Capitol for a full year.
Sessions praised the artists, but made sure to mention the teachers and the programs helping develop creativity and talent.
“This is a day I get to reflect upon not just our young people,” Sessions said, “but really the advantages we have of knowing that they come from programs that place high value on not just the arts, but upon teaching our children the things that will be lifelong lessons, and that is part of a balance.”
Sessions mentioned his own sister Sara, a former ballerina, as an example of the importance of artistic development.
“I had an opportunity to see her develop herself not only in the skill sets she achieved, but also in the arts as part of the arts magnet schools she attended,” Sessions said. “They gave her, because she was a young woman with creativity, an extreme balance that we as her three brothers lacked.
“She went on to become a lead ballerina in San Francisco. She developed herself not only in competition, but in grace and charm, and I’ve been so proud of her.”
As Sessions presented each recipient his or her award, he remarked on some of the specific artistic details in the works.
“Today, as I’ve looked at all this artwork,” Sessions noted, “you can really see the subject matter, which is ‘America the Beautiful.’ Our country has so many things about it that make it unique and great.
“If you look at this artwork, you can see a lot of creativity in what that person’s idea of what America is about.”
For further information regarding this press release, contact Krista Brown (kbrown@angelina.edu), Le’Anne Alexander (lalexander@angelina.edu) or Gary Stallard (gstallard@angelina.edu).
