SOAD's Maria Bentley finds a treasure trove of up and coming young artists at Utah's Northridge High School

Maria Bentley, Assistant Dean of Alfred University's School of Art and Design + Performing Arts Division, recently visited Northridge High School in Utah on a recruitment mission

Maria Bentley, Assistant Dean of Alfred University's School of Art and Design + Performing Arts Division, recently traveled to Northridge High School, in Layton, Utah, to visit students and promote the University's School of Art and Design.

Layton, Utah is more than 1,900 miles from Alfred, NY. But over the past six years, five Northridge students have each been awarded $130,000 in scholarships to attend Alfred University.

Kyle Guymon, a 15-year veteran art teacher at Northridge, is part of the reason. "What Kyle brings to the classroom is that he is really challenging his students to go larger, to really think about who they are, and how they want to share their voice," Bentley says.

Another part of the equation is Bentley herself, who worked as an arts recruiter in Alfred University's Office of Admissions. Bentley met Guymon several years ago at the K12 Clay National Ceramics Show, which was held in conjunction with the Annual Conference of the National Council on Education for the Ceramics Arts.

Bentley developed a high regard for Guymon's art classes and ranks Guymon's classroom as "definitely one of the top."

Artwork by Guymon's students regularly appears in significant exhibitions, including the Eccles Arts Center's Northern Utah High School Art Competition and the Utah All-State High School Art Show. At the most recent K12 Clay Ceramics National Show, eight of the 150 pieces selected were from Northridge high School, more than any other school.

Alfred University is the single largest contributor of scholarship for that show. This year, the University awarded two of its five arts scholarships to Northridge students.