Nearly blind, but with a vision

Sarkis Gekchyan has a drawing at home that he’s been working on for two years. The image, done in crayon on a 24-by-32-inch slab of wood, shows the head and shoulders of Jesus with robes slung over his shoulder and a halo superimposed on a black background.

Sarkis — known to his friends as Sako — can barely see at all and has to draw with his eyes less than an inch from the surface, but that isn’t the reason the picture has taken so long to complete.

The real reason is that Sako, a seventh-grader at Costa Mesa High School, is busy studying the work of classic artists, and he revises the piece as he grows more versatile.

“Every time I learn something about the human face, I take the white crayon and fix it up,” he said.

Sako, 13, is used to working long hours toward a single goal — and Wednesday morning, he got a momentary reward for his efforts, as the Assn. of California School Administrators honored him at its “Every Student Succeeding” breakfast celebration at the Irvine Marriott.

The annual event shines a spotlight on students who have overcome some kind of adversity — poverty, disability, teen motherhood — to excel in school. Sako, the only Newport-Mesa student honored, received a certificate, two tickets to Disneyland and another famous work of art, so to speak: Benjamin Franklin’s face on a crisp $100 bill.

Costa Mesa High School Assistant Principal Morgan Smith, who introduced Sako onstage, described him as a jokester who loves to do impressions but also a serious-minded student with an insatiable appetite for knowledge.

“Every time you see Sako on campus, he’s always got a book in his hand,” Smith said. “He’s just an amazing young man.”

He added that Sako, who is learning Braille, sometimes showed an eye for detail that would be the envy of any artist.

“He sees one little section at a time, but when he puts it all together, it’s very well-proportioned,” Smith said.

MICHAEL MILLER may be reached at (714) 966-4617 or at michael.miller@latimes.com.