Several St. Clair County Community College students have received recognition for their work in the 53rd edition of Patterns, a literary and arts publication featuring student work.

SC4’s Patterns is the longest continually published community college literary and arts magazine in the state. The writing, art and photography work of 34 selected students is featured this year for a total of 61 pieces.

Awards were given to students during a Patterns Reception on Sunday, April 17, on the college’s Port Huron campus.

The following students received awards:

• Eleanor Mathews Award, poetry — Nikki Roulo of St. Clair
• Blanche Redman Award, poetry — Nikki Roulo of St. Clair for Autumn.
• First-place poem — Nikki Roulo of St. Clair for To My Teachers, Past and Present.
• Second-place poem — Joanne Vandenabeele of St. Clair for He Doesn’t Get It.
• Kathy Nickerson Award, essay — Mick Goode of Port Huron for November 22nd 1980: The Day God Abdicated.
• First-place essay — Mick Goode of Port Huron for The Cedar Tree.
• Second-place essay — Justin Huffman of St. Clair for Death.
• Richard J. Colwell Award, short story — Deborah Robinson of Deckerville for Tough Guys.
• First-place short story — Kristie Lynch of Clyde Township for It’s Not Always in Your Imagination.
• Second-place short story — Colleen Ryan of St. Clair for A Break for the Generations.
• Patrick Bourke Award, art — Robin Schweihofer of Marysville.
• First-place art — Lauren Cross of Marysville for Cluttered Thoughts.
• Second-place art — David Shagena of Fort Gratiot for Apophasis.
• Third-place art — Estelle Scheaffer of Port Huron for City Falling.

Thirty-one students also received honorable mention or selection of merit awards for having their work chosen for inclusion in Patterns.

This year’s visiting judges were artists Zack Ostrowski and Thomas Pyrzewski and authors Denise Duhamel and Margaret McMullan.

Duhamel is a poet and recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship. Her most recent poetry titles are Ka-Ching! in 2009 and Two and Two in 2005. Duhamel is an associate professor at Florida International University in Miami.

McMullan is a novelist and recipient of a 2010 National Endowment for the Arts fellowship. She is author of six award-winning novels, including Sources of Light, In My Mother’s House and Cashay. McMullan is an English professor at the University of Evansville in Indiana and teaches at the Stony Brook Southampton Writers Conference in Southampton, N.Y.

Ostrowski is an award-winning graphic designer and assistant professor of art, media and design at DePaul University in Chicago. Ostrowski is an SC4 alumnus and former SC4 adjunct communication design instructor. He has worked professionally as a graphic designer for Rossetti Architects in Southfield and as an entrepreneur, co-establishing Superiorbelly LLC, a multimedia art and design collective, with sculptor Thomas Pyrzewski.

Pyrzewski is a sculptor and adjunct sculpture instructor at Wayne State University in Detroit and interim director of Wayne State University’s Art Galleries. Pyrzewski has presented several award-winning shows of his artwork. He co-established Superiorbelly LLC, a multimedia art and design collective, with Zack Ostrowski. He also had a solo exhibition in SC4’s Fine Arts Galleries in 2007.

Patterns is made possible by financial support from National Endowment for the Arts, St. Clair County Community College and SC4 Friends of the Arts.

Cliff Johnson, SC4 English professor and Patterns Committee member, speaks Sunday, April 17, at St. Clair County Community College’s Patterns Reception. About 115 people attended the ceremony, which was part of several events planned April 16 and 17 to celebrate the 53rd edition of Patterns, a literary and arts publication featuring SC4 student work.

 Students whose work was selected for publication in Patterns

###