EDWARDSBURG — Two Edwardsburg High School students participated in an annual youth art contest last week.

Natalie Rarick, 12th grade, and Isabelle Ferguson, 11th grade, of Edwardsburg High School, have been named as Michigan Youth Arts Distinguished Scholars in Creative Writing and participated in the 57th annual Michigan Youth Arts Festival at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo May 9 through 11.

An Edwardsburg Public Schools Foundation grant funded the opportunity for both students. This is Rarick’s fourth time attending and Ferguson’s first time. Both are students in the AP Literature class offered at Edwardsburg High School.

Rarick is active at school in Varsity Chorale, Bella Voce and theater, while maintaining a 4.0 grade point average. She was honored as a National Merit Scholarship finalist this spring and is a valedictorian of her class. She served as a member of the National Honor Society and was selected as the first-place winner of the 2017 Law Day Essay Contest sponsored by the Cass County Bar Association.

Participating in local theater for many years, Rarick has appeared on local stages in more than 20 productions, and is currently working on “Once on This Island” for the Musical Mission Tour, presented by Clay Church in June.  This past March, she was seen in Edwardsburg High School’s production of “Shrek the Musical” as Princess Fiona. She will attend Northwestern University this fall, double majoring in English and theater.

Ferguson is also an active member of the National Honor Society and a volunteer for student council. She has held the secretarial position of the school’s Leos club for the last two years and plans to do the same as a senior. A member of the Edwardsburg Sports Complex Youth Advisory Council, she is also duly enrolled at SMC and will be completing a masters in social work and clinical psychology after graduation.

Nearly 1,000 Michigan high school student artists were invited to attend this year’s festival. The students, chosen from a pool of more than 250,000 across the state, are selected via a rigorous adjudication process adhering to exacting artistic standards. The invited scholars represent multiple artistic disciplines, including creative writing, dance, film/video, instrumental and vocal music, music composition, theatre and visual art.

2019 marked the 57th anniversary of this three-day event, featuring workshops and master classes for the students, alongside more than 20 student performances and exhibitions that are open to the public.