Sophomore Erika Wilczek has been creating art for as long as she can remember. She enjoys art in many forms, starting from coloring books at a young age. 

Wilczek has been involved in the ceramics class at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School since ninth grade, and plans on continuing it in her upcoming junior year. Throughout this class, students first design what they would like their projects to look like on a sheet of paper, use clay to make the piece and paint it. Next, you begin firing the piece in the kiln and finally take it home.

“My favorite part of [ceramics] class is that I get to choose my project’s design, so it can be original,” Wilczek said. 

Through it’s style, color and texture, art is unique for many reasons. When Wilczek creates art, she uses a special method to draw and design her subjects, which makes her art personal. Currently, she is involved primarily with ceramics, but whenever she gets the chance Wilczek draws a variety of other things. 

Wilczek uses art as a stress reliever during school and thoroughly enjoys it. She gets to release her creativity throughout the making of her art pieces. Wilczek loves displaying her ceramic pieces around her house so all her friends and family can see. 

“My favorite art piece is a ceramic mug I made last year that was designed to look like a tiki face,” Wilczek said.

Not only is Wilczek an artist, but she is also involved in a variety of other programs and activities. She has been a member of the girls tennis team at MSD since freshman year and is also part of the Genius Bar math tutoring program at the school. The Genius Bar is a tutoring program in which advanced students help students struggling in their math classes with concepts and homework. Wilczek visits the media center every personalization period to tutor anyone in need of help in math courses, such as algebra or geometry, in exchange for service hours. 

Wilczek enjoys every aspect that goes into her artwork. She strives toward working on new pieces of art and helping other students throughout her community. Wilczek is constantly working towards her goal of becoming a civil engineer.