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St. John Paul The Great senior hopes to integrate art and computer science

Meghan Bartlett | Catholic Herald Editorial Assistant

Heaven Nartey, a senior at Saint John Paul the Great Catholic High School in Potomac Shores, uses oil paint for her studio art portfolio. COURTESY

Heaven Nartey_1_Cmr web

Heaven Nartey, a senior at Saint John Paul the Great Catholic High School in Potomac Shores, uses oil paint for her studio art portfolio. COURTESY

Dark am I yet lovely web

Heaven Nartey has been drawing since she was 3. “I always had a passion for it,” she said. “I like to draw and paint and do anything artistic.”

She thinks she started drawing to follow the example of her older sister, Nhyira, whose name means “blessing” in Ghana, where her parents are from. Heaven was almost named Faith. “But then I don’t know, my dad, he just decided to name me Heaven. He said it just came to him,” said Heaven. “He wanted to name me that when he saw me.”

Heaven followed Nhyira to Saint John Paul the Great Catholic High School in Potomac Shores, where she joined the art club. Now a senior, Heaven is president of the club.

Her favorite medium is oil paint, which she used to create a series of paintings for her Advanced Placement studio art class portfolio focusing on sickle cell anemia. The disease is named for the sickle shape of red blood cells. Unlike healthy blood cells that are circular and flexible, sickle cells can become sticky and hard, slowing or blocking blood flow and causing pain episodes, or pain crises. The sickle cells also die sooner, creating a shortage of red blood cells that can lead to anemia. 

Her oil paintings include a lot of portraits: “I like to put people in my paintings,” she said. The paintings colorfully and emotionally illustrate different aspects of sickle cell anemia.

“I wanted to bring awareness about (sickle cell disease),” she said.

Beyond her own painting, she’s enjoyed being president of the art club this year and coming up with activities for the club members. At Thanksgiving, students were assigned to paint a picture of a turkey, with an added challenge of drawing from a raffle to determine what body part they could use — like a hand, finger or elbow. Heaven wanted to show that “you don’t have to use just one (method) in art, there are many different paths.” In the spring, the club pressed flowers.

In addition to art club, Heaven is vice president of the national honor society at John Paul the Great, and belongs to the national honors societies for English and art.

This past year she has been busy, keeping up with homework and applying to colleges. In the fall, she plans to head to the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, double majoring in studio art and computer science.

She’s also been busy assisting her mom to run a donation center for clothes that get shipped to her mother’s hometown in Ghana. Her family has been running the donation center since Heaven was in grade school, collecting donated clothes from friends and neighbors and her mother’s coworkers. She said this past year has been busy, after an influx in donations during the past two years. 

While she’ll miss her friends and the “comfort of seeing familiar faces” at John Paul the Great, Heaven’s looking forward to meeting new people and taking courses that interest her at Notre Dame. She also appreciates the religious aspect of the school.

“Notre Dame is like a continuation of my high school,” she said. “A majority of people are religious.”

Like the name she was almost given, faith has been a big part of her upbringing. Her family attends Our Lady of Angels Church in Woodbridge. “My mom makes sure we read our Bibles every day,” she said. “I feel like my family is really strong in the faith.”

Bartlett can be reached at [email protected].

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