BATTLE GROUND — When Holly Halberg walked into the Battle Ground High School gym recently and noticed that representatives from Google were giving a presentation about the Doodle 4 Google contest, she didn’t think much about it.
Then her name was announced as the contest’s state winner. Students in the packed auditorium erupted in applause.
“I looked over at my cousin, Whitney (Halberg), and said, ‘What the heck?’ ” Holly said.
The 14-year-old freshman has advanced to the public voting round of the K-12 competition to create a Doodle that will be on the Google home page for a day. The public can vote through Monday to help narrow the field to select the five national finalists.
Four of the national finalists will receive a $5,000 college scholarship. The winner will receive a $30,000 college scholarship. The winner’s school will receive a $50,000 Google for Education grant. In addition, the national winner’s artwork will be featured on the Google home page for a day.
Around Thanksgiving, Holly created a piece of art — a Google Doodle — as a required assignment in her drawing and painting class. Most of the other students finished their artwork in class, but Holly took hers home to spend more time on it.
Holly’s Google artwork was made with silhouettes. She’s created silhouettes with her photography before, but had never done one as a paper collage. She used an X-Acto knife to cut out black paper silhouettes of things important to her following the contest’s theme, “What makes me … me.”
In the first silhouette, a girl holds an umbrella because Holly lives in the rainy Northwest. The next silhouette, of an older girl interacting with a younger girl, represents the bond between Holly and her 2-year-old sister, Eve. Other silhouettes depict a girl taking a photograph and reading, which are her other hobbies.
She adhered the silhouettes to a page of text she cut from a book. Then she used a black marker to write the word “Google” in the background behind the silhouettes.
Holly’s teacher, Alder Suttles, was impressed by Holly’s artwork and asked if she could submit it to the Doodle 4 Google contest. In all, Suttles submitted the artwork of 25 of her students from her various art classes.
As the state winner, Holly received an electronic tablet and T-shirts printed with her doodle. Battle Ground High School received $2,500 for art supplies, which will be used to purchase a pottery wheel and easel.
A passion for art
Art has been a part of Holly’s life as long as she can remember. Her bedroom wall is adorned with a large collage of black and white, sepia and color photographs she’s taken of family and friends. A shelf holds her drawing pencils, sketchbooks and Nikon digital camera.
“She’s always had a passion for art — in addition to her love of reading and photography,” said her mother, Jenae Halberg.
“Mostly, I sketch with my pencils. This year I started painting too,” Holly said. “But photography is my main focus.”
For now, Holly is taking as many art classes as she can. This semester, she’s taking a clay sculpture class and a black-and-white photography class. She plans to enroll in the Running Start program at Clark College in her junior and senior years.
“Someday, I want to have my own photography business and be an interior designer,” she said.
Last year as a student at Amboy Middle School, Holly designed the eighth-grade sweatshirts. She also won the school’s design-a-hat contest — twice.
“She has a knack for winning art contests,” said her mom. “Her dad and I just laughed when we were contacted by Google and they told us she had won.”
