Westmont High Takes Home Prize at Art Showcase

Campbell was well represented in this year's Blue Coat Art Showcase. Campbell's was one of the four judges, and this year's first-place overall prize went to .

There were 23 schools, both private and public, that showed their artwork to the panel of four judges and were critiqued on technique, originality and presentation.

Prizes up to $2,500 were awarded to schools and up to $1,000 to students. 

Besides Paz, this year's judges included Paul Schick, Ken Schwab and Virginia Belsheim.

Blue Coat Systems, a technology company based in Sunnyvale, takes money from its budget every year to fund the event and give money away to schools and students.

"The company wants to support art and schools," says Belsheim, senior facilities manager of Blue Coat and a judge in the contest.

Robert Kusters, host of the showcase, stressed the importance of harnessing creativity in overcoming obstacles, rather than relying on formulas.

Westmont High School was awarded first place overall, and Cupertino, Homestead and Palo Alto high schools placed third.

Cupertino's Monta Vista High School took home the $2,500 grand prize.

Honorable mentions were given to Patricia Zhang of Cupertino High, Brian Zhu of Henry Gunn High, Crystal Lee of Homestead High, Ellie Foy of Los Gatos High, Alisha Deshmukh of Monta Vista High, Ashley Hartwell of Palo Alto High and Georgina Silva of Westmont High.