“Reflections of Me” If I could do anything I would …
“inspire others to be better people by my own actions and beliefs. We, the teenagers, may only be a ripple in the water at first, but soon our true reflections can flood the world with positive people.”
– Megan Millard, seventh grade
“Seek the Universe”If I could do anything I would …
“travel to distant worlds and faraway galaxies. Without shuttles or space suits and have total freedom to explore. Just like Google exists in a boundless world of the Internet, I too could travel the boundless universal worlds!”
– Paige Jordan, seventh grade
DAYTON, Tenn. — Two seventh-graders at Dayton City School have found much more in common than their friendship: Both are state finalists in the national Doodle 4 Google art contest.
“We were shocked, but really proud of ourselves,” said 13-year-old Megan Millard.
Megan and Paige Jordan won the two slots for Tennessee in the seventh- and ninth-grade categories for their drawings — Megan’s “Reflections of Me” and Paige’s “Seek the Universe.”
Doodle 4 Google is a competition for K-12 students to work on a piece of art using the search engine Google’s homepage logo. This year, participants had to come up with a doodle — like the decorations that Google adds to its logo every so often, say on Arbor Day or Christmas — with the theme of “If I Could Do Anything, I Would … “
Although the two girls didn’t advance to the regional finals, the 400 finalists culled from all 50 states were selected out of 33,000 entries from across the nation, according to Google.
Dayton City Schools submitted six entries in three categories.
“It’s about getting them out there and realizinge they can solve a problem. It’s about communicating,” said art teacher Nela Swiney at Dayton City School. “Just because we come from a small school doesn’t mean they have to think small.”
Megan said her reflection idea was the last one she came up with, and even though she wasn’t sure about it, Mrs. Swiney pushed her to pursue it.
“As soon as I saw she had written the word ‘reflection,’ I knew that was it,” said Mrs. Swiney, who has taught art at the school for 13 years.
“My friends and family inspired me,” said Megan. “(One) day we were talking in class about how we need to be role models for the younger students,” and the idea of reflection just came to her.
For Paige, it was combining her two most-favorite things: art and science.
“My inspiration was space because I think it’s awesome,” she said.
The winning pieces are selected based on artistic merit, creativity, theme communication and appropriateness of the supporting statement, according to Google’s website.
Tennessee also had one of the 40 regional finalists, 9-year-old Isabella Nunez, of Nashville.