Sophomore steals the show once again
Thanh (Tammy) Nguyen poses next to a VIA bus bearing her artwork. Nguyen won best of show two years in a row. Courtesy Photo.
By Juan Villanueva |
For over 20 years, VIA has sponsored the Youth Art Contest which gives students from grades K-12 the ability to draw out a different theme, given each year. This year, the theme was “Be a Safety Superhero in Our Community.”
Once submissions were over in April, two students from every grade level were chosen, along with a Best of Show. Winners were all then invited to a luncheon held on May 11.
This year, the Best of Show was awarded to Thanh (Tammy) Nguyen whose inspiration was comic books. “Comic books, since the theme was safety superheroes,” Nguyen said. “I wanted to smash the two together.”
Nguyen has participated in the contest for the last four years and out of those, she has placed all four times while also winning the Best of Show last year. Her artwork is displayed on a bus for an entire year and she received $250.
All other entries are displayed inside via buses and an award of $50 was given to first-place winners, while second-place winners received $25. Besides Nguyen, other winners from our campus were all first place winners for 10th grade by Allison Lobitz, 11th grade by Vanessa Perez and 12th grade by Michaela Stainthorpe.
Nguyen got to go to VIA headquarters to see a bus with her artwork on the side.
“It’s kinda embarrassing but it’s pretty amazing to see strangers and people that I know see a bus driving around downtown with my artwork,” she said.