Amid the pandemic Nour Farache turned her angst into art that ended up winning a national prize.

But Farache, an honor student at Victor J. Andrew High School in Tinley Park said awards weren’t on her mind as she delved into her painting.

“I think I had a lot of feelings of isolation, I’m very much an extrovert,” she said. “Having to stay at home really killed something in me. It kind of felt like the world was ending.”

She channeled those feelings into her painting “Escape Plan: Error 372,” an AP Art portfolio assignment to show the “parallels between the apocalypse and teenage life.”

“I feel like a lot of teenagers struggle with feelings of anxiety and depression,” Farache said. “It’s kind of weird to look at from an outsider point of view because in the grand scheme of things, we’re not at a constant threat. For example there aren’t zombies outside of our windows. But we still feel anxious at all times.

“When you’re older and more rational about things you can self-soothe easier, but teenagers, we’re relatively new to the world. We don’t realize the things that are happening now have already happened.”

Her work earned a national Scholastic Art Gold Medal Award from the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers after being judged in the top 1% of 260,00 pieces submitted. She also earned several regional awards for her painting and accolades for another piece called “Nearly Friends.”

Kerrie Klitz, her art teacher gave her rave reviews.

“It’s a big deal,” Klitz said. “It doesn’t happen very often at a national level like that.

She’s very gifted. The details in her piece are fabulous — her sense of perspective, proportion, color.”

And she’s not hesitant to share her talents.

“She’s very supportive of her peers and an encouraging person,” Klitz said. “She’s beautiful both inside and outside.”

Farache’s extracurricular schedule at Andrew includes the Robotics Club, Chess, Muslim Student Association and being vice president of the Art Club. She also teaches art to youth at the Orland Park Prayer Center, plays guitar and writes stories for the school literary magazine.

She credits much of her success to her supportive parents — a mom who gives her constructive but loving criticism, a neurologist dad who will stop her to ask if she’s OK and notices if she is having a bad week — and brothers who care about her.

Farache will be presented her gold medal June 8 at a ceremony at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

Janice Neumann is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.