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Indian student named a finalist in 'Doodle 4 Google' contest

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Thursday, 20 May 2010

Indian student named a finalist in 'Doodle 4 Google' contest By Alysa Landry — The Daily Times Posted: 05/19/2010 FARMINGTON — If Joe White Horse could do anything he wanted, he would cure cancer. White Horse, a senior at Farmington High School, lost his grandmother to breast cancer in 2006. "I look at cancer as an unstoppable black mass," the 18-year-old student said. "When cancer takes over, it takes the hearts of everyone around that person. If I could do anything, I would cure cancer." A tribute to White Horse's grandmother may appear on computers around the world next week if White Horse is named one of four finalists in the celebrated Doodle 4 Google competition. The software company, best known for its colorful Internet search engine, sent representatives Tuesday to Farmington to surprise White Horse with an assembly honoring him as one of 40 regional finalists in the country. The annual contest promises its winners $15,000 in scholarships, a $25,000 technology grant for winners' schools and other incentives. This year's theme was "If I could do anything, I would ..." White Horse was selected from a pool of more than 33,000 artists in grades kindergarten through 12. Teams across the country simultaneously were congratulating the other 39 finalists Tuesday, said Paul Wilcox, consumer operations strategist at the Mountain View, Calif.-based Google. Wilcox, unfamiliar with Farmington, admitted he used a Google map Tuesday to find the school. During the assembly, he presented a history of the company and an overview of the applications available. If named a winner next week in New York City, White Horse and hundreds of millions of Google users will see the student's art work on the Google home page. Voting is open on the Google website, and members of the public can vote one time per computer on their favorite art work. Voting closes Tuesday at 6 p.m. local time. The winner will be announced the following day in New York City during an awards ceremony White Horse will attend. The national winner's doodle then will appear on Google.com next Wednesday. Other artists' submissions depict students' wishes to build a movie theater on the moon, be an underwater explorer or travel through time. White Horse's doodle shows the earth wrapped in the dark vines of cancer. The doodle, part of an assignment for his art class, took more than three weeks to complete, he said. "If we don't find a cure for cancer, I believe it will take over the world," he said. White Horse's love for art began when he young, said his mother, Penny White Horse. "He was drawing, messing around, and as he got older, he was getting better and better," she said of her son. "His art is so detailed. It's busy. You have to sit there and ask him what everything means." White Horse said he likes abstract art and puts a lot of meaning into each piece. "When I get an image in my head, I don't stop until it's on paper," he said. "When I got this thing in my head, I wanted it to mean something. My mind perceives cancer as something that tears everything apart. I wanted to show how devastating it is." After learning he was a finalist, White Horse said he was speechless for a couple of days. "Me, in Farmington, New Mexico," he said. "I never thought something like this would happen." White Horse's art teacher, however, said she was not surprised. "He's been awesome ever since he's been in my class," Sherri Smith said. "He is very creative." If named winner, White Horse plans to use his scholarship money to attend art school, where we wants to study graphic design. The winning doodles will be exhibited in the Smithsonian Institution. http://www.daily-times.com/farmington-news/ci_15115554

 

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