Any and everyone who has surfed Google has seen the “doodles” pop up above the search engine. Well, to encourage creativity, Google hosts the annual “Doodle for Google” contest, open to students grades K-12. Students are invited to create their own “doodles” in hopes that they will not only be featured on Google.com, but also win scholarship money and tech packages for their schools.
This year, Lithonia, Georgia teen, Arantza Peña Popo, from Arabia Mountain High School, claimed the grand prize of $30,000 college scholarship and a $50,000 technology award for her school with her “doodle” entry-“Once You Get It, Give It Back.”
When asked of the significance of her drawing, Popo wrote, “When I grow up, I hope to care for my mom as much as she cared for me my entire life. In my doodle, there is a framed picture of my mother carrying me as a baby (a real picture in my house) and below the picture is me, caring for her when she’s older in the future. I came up with the idea at the last minute, actually the day of the deadline. I looked at the photograph of my mother and thought, ‘Hey, why don’t I reverse it?’ I wanted to focus more on a message of helping out my awesome mother more than anything else.”
Popo, who was valedictorian of her class, will attend the University of Southern California in the fall, planning on studying graphic design. Having been interested in art since the age of three, the talented teen plans to start a career in sustainable design.
Popo’s win landed her a spot on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, check out the video below. Congratulations, Arantza! It is unquestionably without a doubt that great things are on the horizon for you and we cannot wait to watch.
