What do Emma Holland ’14, Peter Runge ’14, Janum Trivedi ’14, Cammy Harris ’15, and Emma Henson ’15 have in common? They have all accomplished something incredible outside of Out-of-Door.

We all know Emma Holland as the artist of ODA, but she recently submitted drawings that have been nationally recognized.  Emma and four other ODA students submitted multiple pieces to the Artimus USA Competition, and Emma became a top ten finalist. The competition reaches out to high schools all over the country to appreciate up and coming artists of today. There are no positions after the ten finalists, so Emma is the best of the best!

“I won $100 and a certificate!” Emma cheered. Her winning pieces can be seen below.

Another student who has distinguished himself away from school is Peter Runge. Boy, can Peter Runge run. Around forty miles a week actually. But, why does Peter run so much? One, because he loves to run, and two, because those long runs allowed him to qualify for the 2015 Boston Marathon. People from all over the world, of all ages, work for years to try to qualify for this renowned marathon. In order to qualify, Peter had to complete a qualifying race of 26.2 miles (same length as the Boston Marathon) in at least three hours and five minutes.

In the performing art two other students haved earned recognition: Janum Trivedi and Cammy Harris. In previous years, the ODA Arts Department brought in the Source Theater, a Sarasota based national touring theater group composed of teens and young adults. The group is a part of an outreach program from Planned Parenthood whose purpose is to educate teens about important life choices. Being located in our backyard of Sarasota, it brought attention to some of our most avid actors. Cammy Harris and Janum Trivedi have joined the newest cast of Source Theater and have been performing for thousands of teenagers across Florida about real life adversities. Cammy started in September on her 16th birthday after she saw “The Holding Cell” at an ODA Ovation.

“I wanted a bigger opportunity to be involved in film. We do a show every two weeks, at detention centers and second chance high schools (where there are recovering drug addicts, pregnant, and abused girls),” Cammy said.

“We do plays about believing in yourself and following your dreams.  We do plays about sexuality, drug abuse and HIV/AIDS.  We do plays about finding out what it means to be alive and taking responsibility for the choices we make every single day,” the theater says on their website.

Over the summer, Cammy also goes to New York City and is a a part of Broadway Artist Line, a musical theater intensive at the Rippleygrier Studios. Through her time there, she’s met people from the Broadway shows Newsies, Matilda, Kinky Boots, and is friends with the actor who plays Billy in Billy Elliot.

“It’s a really cool opportunity and I encourage people to do it,” Cammy ended.

ODA not only has a nationally acclaimed artist, a long-distance runner, and accomplished actors, the ODA student body also includes a nationally recognized writer. Emma Henson has been said to be a future American author by ODA English teacher, Mr. Lemieux. In Lemieux’s estimation, one potentially as significant as F. Scott Fitzgerald or Mark Twain. Her writing amazes all who read it, including the judges at Scholastic.

Last fall, Emma submitted two pieces to the Scholastic Art and Writing competition and received awards for both. There were 255,000 contestants, and only 1,500 received awards. The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards commend all students who had the courage and motivation to send their work for review by artistic and literary professionals. Her short story, “A Definable Difference,” won a Gold Key and her flash fiction, “Nine Letter’s War,” won an American Voices Gold Key award. The awards recognized her as a finalist for competition. The final awards ceremony will take place in June in New York City.

So the next time you marvel at the achievements of students ON CAMPUS, remember those making strides in their own domains as well. Emma, Peter, Cammy, Janum, and Emma are only a handful of accomplished students at Out-of-Door. One can only speculate about what other hidden talents lie waiting to emerge.