It may seem like a mere doodle to some people, but for Mirror Lake seventh-grader Jazzie Trotter, it's a winner. "Ever since I was a little kid, I loved drawing and I loved art," said Trotter, standing on the stage in her middle school multipurpose room.
"I also love algebra, because I love solving problems," she said. The problem she solved was how to translate her love of Alaska into a piece of art for the Doodle 4 Google contest, a nationwide K-12 art contest put on by the internet giant.
"With art and in math, you have an idea in your head and then you get to put it on paper," she said.
Trotter's entry, titled "Alive in Alaska," incorporates iconic Alaskan imagery. A jumping salmon, fisherman, bears, eagles and a moose spell out the Google logo in front of a backdrop of mountains and a floatplane. It won her first place in the Alaska state portion of the contest, and gives her a chance to compete in the national contest later this year.
If Trotter's entry wins the national contest, it could end up on the Google homepage, where it will be seen by millions of people.