By Florida Catholic staff - Florida Catholic

MIAMI | Immaculata-La Salle High School (ILS) graduate Camila Garcia is the first student from ILS to win the Congressional Art Competition, taking first place for Florida's 27th Congressional District with her charcoal portrait "Old Man."

• School bell "rings in" seven new Catholic school leaders

The competition, also known as the Artistic Discovery Contest, is held each spring by members of the U.S. House of Representatives to recognize artistic talent among high school students nationwide. Camila's district win was announced at a gallery exhibition hosted by U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar at her Miami district office on April 1.

The competition is run separately in each of the nation's 435 congressional districts, and only one student per district is named the overall winner each year. Camila's win puts her among a few hundred students recognized nationwide annually, out of the thousands who compete each spring.

"Old Man" will hang in the U.S. Capitol's Cannon Tunnel for the next year alongside winning artwork from congressional districts across the country and will be featured on the House Congressional Art Competition website. This summer, Camila and her father traveled to Washington, D.C. June 25 for the exhibit's opening reception at the Congressional Visitor Center, where she was recognized among the national winners.

"Camila has a God-given talent — an artistic eye," said Elena Capablanca, who taught Camila in ILS's dual-enrollment classical drawing and painting class. "She is patient and perseveres through a piece. She's learned to gravitate toward graphite, charcoal and traditional oil paints, and she has definitely developed her own eye for proportion and texture."

Capablanca said the strength of "Old Man" lies in Camila's control of a difficult medium. "Charcoal requires an exceptional level of control and precision, and it can easily smudge, yet Camila handles it with remarkable confidence," she said. "Beyond the technique, the portrait captures a genuine emotion through her composition, pose and cropping choices. The sensitivity she shows in rendering details including the texture of the hat to the subtle tones of the skin — all of these details reveal an artistic maturity well beyond her years."

Capablanca requires her students to enter local and national art contests each year, and Camila entered several pieces throughout her senior year. "It's incredibly rewarding to see students believe in their abilities, put themselves out there and embrace opportunities to shine," Capablanca said.

Camila's win reflects the reach of ILS's broader art program, which spans both traditional and digital media — from dual-enrollment drawing and painting classes to STEAM-based digital arts coursework. Student work is showcased each year at the school's ArtWalk exhibition, where Camila displayed a wider collection of portraits alongside "Old Man."

Camila graduated from Immaculata-La Salle in May 2026 and will attend the University of Florida in the fall, where she plans to study biotechnology.

Interested in a Catholic education for your child? Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Miami provide academic excellence rooted in faith for students from infancy through 12th grade. Find a school near you and learn more about admissions at the Archdiocese of Miami School Finder.