North Star senior wins prestigious art honor for photography talents

May 15, 2026

An apple a day put a Congressional art medal in play for North Star High School senior Ethan this spring.
 
Ethan received national recognition for his photo entitled “Apple Island” in the 2026 Congressional Art Competition. His picture of an apple floating in sunset-drenched Oak Lake will hang in the office of United States Congressman Mike Flood. Visitors to the Cannon House Office Building will have an opportunity to learn more about Ethan’s work and the scenic nature sites that are found in Lincoln.
 
Flood presented Ethan with an official certificate of special recognition from the United States Congress during a meeting at North Star. He told him he was impressed with the photograph’s intricate details.
 
“When I first saw it, I was like, ‘Is that a painting, or is that a picture?’” Flood said.

 
Ethan said perseverance played a major role in the development of his successful picture. He spent many early evenings at Oak Lake trying to find the right combination of sunset colors, wind speed and photo angles. Those efforts paid off this past fall when everything fell into place.
 
“I’ve just learned to keep going and overshoot,” Ethan said. “Look at everything you see, because you lose nothing by taking too many photos. You can always just skip past them.”
 
North Star art teacher Jason Codr said that the willingness to keep trying is why Ethan has become an award-winning photographer. He taught him the basics of the craft in a Photography 1 class, and those lessons jump-started his passion for photography. Ethan continued to refine his talents by enrolling in more advanced courses during his junior and senior years.
 
“When he got a camera and he just started learning it, he was super excited and sold out 100 percent,” Codr said. “He put all his energy into it. He did that through Photo 1, Photo 2, Photo 3, so he kept taking off.”

 
The genesis of “Apple Island” came from a project that Codr assigned students this past fall. The Navigators had to create a series of photos with the same object as the centerpiece.
 
“Everybody was choosing other things like stuffed animals and more generic stuff, and I was like, ‘What about an apple? That sounds cool,’” Ethan said. “You could put an apple anywhere and it could be pretty mysterious.”
 
Ethan began his portfolio of apple pictures with several shots in downtown Lincoln. He had visited Oak Lake many times growing up, and he felt it could be a good spot to capture a photo. He had never remembered seeing an apple bobbing in a lake before, and he decided to experiment with the idea.
 
Ethan took advantage of calm conditions when he arrived at the shoreline one afternoon. He placed an apple into the water and instantly knew he had a chance for a breakthrough picture.
 
“I put it in the water and it just floated there for a little bit,” Ethan said. “One of the pictures just got that perfect timing of it swaying up and down in the water to not break the surface enough. The water was really still. It wasn’t windy at all. It was just a perfect-condition type of photo.”
 
Ethan was thrilled when he reviewed the image that popped up on his digital camera screen. A small amount of water surrounded the stem in the top cup of the apple, and the sunset caused orange, dark blue and light blue colors to splash across the lake’s surface. A row of silhouetted trees in the distance and several clouds in the sky created a soothing backdrop.
 
“I had been trying to make it down there at the perfect time, but the light just wasn’t catching it right,” Ethan said. “I got it one day, and I came home and I told my mom, ‘Look at this photo. This one is going to win the award.’”
 
Ethan decided to submit the photo to this year’s Congressional Art Competition. A panel of professional artists selected “Apple Island” to represent Nebraska’s 1st Congressional District. Ethan said he “kind of freaked out” when Codr told him the happy news in one of North Star’s hallways.
 
The smile on Ethan’s face remained when he and his family met with Flood. In addition to the special certificate, he also received an official challenge coin of the 1st Congressional District. The coin features the seal of the United States House of Representatives.

 
Flood told the audience he was proud of Ethan’s commitment to becoming a top-shelf photographer. He said Ethan’s future would be as healthy as the apple he used for his award-winning entry.
 
“Whatever you do next, you’re going to be successful, because you care and you try and you’ve got humility, and you’re also obviously very talented,” Flood said.
 
Learn how visual art classes make lifelong impacts on LPS students.
 
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