An Ames High School student’s vision for sustainability and her accompanying artistic talent nearly put her on Google’s homepage.
Ella Grail, an Ames High sophomore, was one of the 55 United States winners in the Doodle for Google student competition, ending a personal three-year drought.
“When I was in second grade, my teacher told me all about it and I was super interested. I’ve entered for the past three years,” Grail said. “Every year, I hope, and then I’m disappointed when I don’t win. I didn’t think I could ever win this.”
The annual contest instructs K-12 students across the United States to create their own version of the Google logo. This year’s prompt was “My wish for the next 25 years…”
Grail’s drawing, titled “Community Garden” portrayed her wish for a more sustainable community.
Grail represented Iowa as the state’s only winner. Her artwork is featured on the Doodle for Google gallery in the eighth and ninth-grade category (Grail was a freshman when she entered the contest). The public voted on their favorite pieces through June 4.
The five finalists and a national winner were revealed Monday, June 10. Grail was not on the list of finalists.
The national finalists each receive a $5,000 scholarship and Google swag.
The national winner takes home a $55,000 college scholarship while their school is given a $50,000 tech package for a computer lab or technology program.
More: Ames High students say the district can save $5 million through solar energy
Wishes for greener communities
When faced with the “My wish for the next 25 years…” prompt, Grail instantly thought of sustainability and fighting climate change.
“Kind of naturally with that, my ideas started going towards gardens,” Grail said. “And then I realized could include another really important thing I want to happen in the next 25 years, which is for communities to come together.”
Climate change has a big impact on the world today, Grail said, something she’s noticed a lot lately.
“We just did a unit about it in science class, which makes me think about the effects of climate change on our world,” Grail said. “It’s been on my mind a lot, so it was the first thing I thought of (for the prompt).”
More: See photos of the Ames High School 2024 graduation ceremony
Love for art shines through
Grail’s passion for art “really kicked off” during the COVID-19 pandemic; she had a lot more free time and could fill it by making whatever she wanted.
That love for art was rooted inside well before that, however.
“I have always put a lot effort into assignments for art class and really enjoyed creating art on my own outside of school,” Grail said. “I’m definitely very passionate about art. It’s something I want to do as my career in the future, and it’s something I’ve always loved doing.”
Though she has not settled on a specific field she’d like to pursue after graduation, Grail can see herself creating paintings to sell at galleries or helping create video games, animated television shows or movies.
In the meantime, Grail plans to keep entering art competitions. She hopes to do some freelance work in the future. More of her art can be found on Grail’s Instagram @eclareart, where she also takes commissions.
More: Iowa State University selects Mississippi State’s Jason Keith as next provost
Celia Brocker is a government, crime, political and education reporter for the Ames Tribune. She can be reached at CBrocker@gannett.com.
