Only one regional competition for Neenah’s Visual Arts Competition(Classic) team this year as the pandemic rages on.

To explain, the article “State Competition Information” clarifies the VAC is a competition for students interested in visual arts for high school students. Usually, teams compete in multiple competitions across college campuses. These are the regionals that determine who will go into state. Unffortunately, the pandemic’s interjection has made it so that there will only be one online regional for the VAC participants. 

The reason VAC was moved online is that, according to the CDC, close contact between people from different geographical areas, such as in-person competitions, are high risk. While there are some activities that demand in-person participation, VAC has made its way online. Though this competition is not until spring, the online setting has already been determined.

This year is not the first time VAC jumped online. Last year proved these online experiments do-able, as they replaced most in-person tournaments after the shutdown. This was achieved because three of VAC’s four events translate with some ease from in-person to online: the on-site piece, the long-term piece, and the quiz bowl about different artists. The one that does not is the critical thinking piece, where participants use props and themselves to recreate artworks as a team. Though it was certainly different from the first two in-person competitions of the year, Neenah’s team stilled soared.

“We have placed first overall in regionals every year so far. And we have placed at state multiple times as well. We come home with trophies every year!” Ms. Emma Santiago, the Neenah VAC coach, said.

The Neenah VAC team has an amazing track record and hopes to continue this next competition season.