Collin Rineer earns national art award

Kudos to Penn Manor High School senior Collin Rineer, who earned a Gold Medal in the national Scholastic Art & Writing Awards competition.

His drawing, “Broken Keys,” won in the Drawing and Illustration category. Collin created the charcoal piece as a birthday gift for a friend who plays the piano. He entered the drawing in Scholastics — his first time competing — and said he “wasn’t expecting anything out of it.” The award “was kind of a surprise,” he said.

Collin said he enjoyed “doodling” in elementary school but got away from art in middle school. Last year, he took a Commercial Art class at Penn Manor HS and discovered that he enjoyed drawing, which he finds relaxing.

That led to a Drawing and Painting course and an independent study class this semester.

Collin is the son of Teresa and Craig Rineer of Washington Boro. He is considering pursuing a degree in fine arts at Millersville University.

His award is the first time a Penn Manor student has won a national Scholastic Art Award since 2013, when Kristen Lonsderff was a Gold Award winner.

Penn Manor had another national Scholastic Awards winner this year — Peyton Cassel, who was honored for her collection of poems.  You can read about her award here.

Only the top 1 percent of the nearly 320,000 works of art and writing submitted to the competition this year were recognized with national awards.