Cristal Ramirez, a Golden Valley High School senior, was a finalist for the 2016 art competition with her poetry submission entitled “Peace Through People.”

Last year, Golden Valley High School student Cristal Ramirez submitted a poem to her art teacher as just another assignment.

Little did she know, her poem would go on to being a finalist in a national competition, including Sister Cities and participants from all over the United States.

Being a finalist meant her poem would follow the Sister Cities Art Exhibit on a tour across the nation, making a stop in Santa Clarita for the month of March and moving onto Chandler, Arizona, where it will be for the month of April.

On Wednesday, March 22, 2017, she was recognized by the city of Santa Clarita at the Valencia Library during an art reception for the the Sister City art exhibit.

The exhibit featured artwork, poetry and photography from young authors and artists all over the world.

“I got a call saying, I won… I would say a couple weeks after I turned in the assignment,” stated Cristal Ramirez, recalling the moment she found out she had won the local Santa Clarita competition.

Golden Valley’s Art Teacher Ms. Vernon assigned the task, and even though Ramirez was just completing another assignment, she put great effort into constructing her poem.

“You could say I worked pretty hard on it, because I came to the library, I made sure everything was fine, I looked things up in the dictionary, and made it as nice as I could,” Ramirez recalled. Her poem was a finalist in the national competition, an honor for which she received a one hundred dollar cash prize and an award from the city.

Cristal attended the art reception with a few of her friends and her parents. Many other art enthusiasts were at the
event, including arts commissioner Vanessa Wilk – Senator Scott Wilk’s wife.

“This is the first time since 2013 that we have had the opportunity to hold the event,” stated Tess Simgen, the board member of the Santa Clarita Valley International Program who oversaw the event. The last winner from Santa Clarita was Seung Won Choi, who won the 2013 Grand Prize Essay Contest with her essay entitled, “The Powerful Exchange of Love.”

Santa Clarita is a proud member of the Sister Cities International organization, whose goal is to involve groups at all levels of society in citizen diplomacy. The sister cities of Santa Clarita are Tena, Ecuador and Sariaya, Philippines.

Although Cristal Ramirez is a proven talented writer, she plans to be a detective or work in the special victims unit. Next year she is set to study at Grand Canyon University in Arizona.