OHIO COUNTY, W.Va. — Ohio County Schools hosted its annual Celebration of the Arts event on Thursday evening at Wheeling Park High School, showcasing the creative talents of students from pre-kindergarten through the senior level.

The event featured live performances from choirs and various bands, as well as thousands of pieces of visual art, including paintings and ceramics.

“I think for many of our students art is their primary outlet,” OCS Public Relations Director Karin Butyn said. “Art is a huge factor of their life/their well-being, so having teachers that foster that early on and foster that creativity is just essential to a whole child. Events like this don’t come together by accident; it’s through the hard work of every single art teacher in Ohio County Schools.”

The event also highlighted the achievements of the senior class, who have collectively received over a quarter of a million dollars in scholarship offers this year.

“This is an amazing Senior class, most years if we get $4,000 worth of scholarship offers we are excited, this year our seniors have been offered over a quarter of a million dollars in scholarship offers and so they’re killing it and we are winning art shows all over the state,” art teacher Russ Schultz said.

The art department began collecting student art pieces for the event as early as September, underscoring the dedication and effort put into making the celebration a success.