News

Dayton 3rd Grader Is Tennessee’s Winner In Doodle4Google Competition

By Dani Brown, Arts Education Special Projects Coordinator –

Aiden McRorie’s winning entry, Pet Shop
Aiden McRorie’s winning entry, Pet Shop

Aiden McRorie is a 3rd grader at Dayton City Elementary School and the Tennessee state winner of the national Doodle4Google contest. On Friday, February 5, she was congratulated during an all-school assembly for her winning entry.

Aiden has already won big by claiming the Tennessee title. Along with having her artwork included in the Doodle4Google gallery, she will receive an Android tablet and a t-shirt with her design printed on it. She is now in the running for the national prize of $80,000.

The Google judges selected 53 State and Territory winners from the many doodles that were entered in this year’s competition. From now until February 22, 2016, all of us are invited to choose the five National Finalists by voting on our favorite piece from each age group.

For this year’s contest, students created doodles that told the world “What makes me…me.” Kids have all kinds of things that make them unique so they could use all kinds of materials to create their doodles — crayons, clay, yarn, graphic design, and even food and video games. As with every Doodle4Google contest, the national winner’s artwork will be featured on the Google homepage for a day.

Aiden’s Google illustration is of a pet rescue center with the Google logo on its front window. “Not all animals would live in a house so my shelter would give wild animals food and a safe place to grow,” says Aiden. “Helping animals to find a home is what makes me… me.”

Since 2008, Dayton’s art teacher Nela Swiney has been working with students after school to create excellent work for the Doodle4Google competition. Her hard work has paid off — in the past 7 years, Dayton has had 3 state winners.

You can vote for Aiden’s Doodle by visiting http://www.google.com/doodle4google/vote.html#d=1-8 by February 22.

LtoR: Nela Swiney, Aiden McRorie, Google representatives and Dayton City Elementary Principal, Linda Abel
LtoR: Nela Swiney, Aiden McRorie, Google representatives and Dayton City Elementary Principal, Linda Abel