San Ramon Student Drawing To Be Exhibited At Carnegie Hall

SAN RAMON, CA — A Dougherty Valley student will see her artwork exhibited at Carnegie Hall after winning a national prize. It is currently being exhibited at the San Ramon City Hall for the month of April.

Aditi Ranjan was awarded a National Gold Medal in the 2026 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, an honor given to less than one percent of over 330,000 submissions nationwide.

“This piece reflects months of experimentation, failure, and growth - a process that taught me to see creativity as a way to explore ideas and voice perspectives that matter. Furthermore, I’m deeply grateful to my parents, my art teacher, Mrs. Wengel, and my friends for their support and encouragement throughout this journey,” Ranjan told Patch.

She received an award for “Silent Suffering,” a graphite drawing of a crying girl being silenced by an unseen person wearing a snake necklace. Ranjan said the piece represents how people can hide their fears.

“The main message of my piece, ‘Silent Suffering,’ is that fear can quietly build into anxiety and emotional pain, even when it is not visible to others. Through this work, I wanted to show how suffering is often hidden beneath the surface and overlooked by society,” she said.

Ranjan began creating art at the age of five, and also works in color pencil, charcoal, and watercolor. She received a High Merit Winner award for the fall 2025 Celebrating Art competition, and “Silent Suffering” also won a San Ramon competition and a Superior Award from the Bay Area Creative Youth Awards.

The piece will be on display June 9-11 at Carnegie Hall along with the other gold medalists.

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