For the second consecutive year, an Edinburg Consolidated Independent School District student has won the annual ‘Don’t Mess With Texas K-12: Art Contest.’
Brittlee Garcia, who is a recent graduate from Edinburg North High School, was one of only 14 students from across the entire state whose winning artwork was selected by Keep Texas Beautiful and the Texas Department of Transportation to appear in the 2020 ‘Don’t Mess With Texas’ calendar.
Garcia, who is currently studying nursing at South Texas College with a minor in art, said that the support from her teachers motivated her to create the winning artwork, which depicts a cowgirl riding a horse through a Texas landscape.
“I was thinking about Texas and how there are always cactuses, blue bonnets and horses,” she said in a press release. “I noticed that not a lot of people think about the western style of cowboys and cowgirls. So, I incorporated it into my art with the desert, canyons and stuff to get all that effect in there.”
According to Keep Texas Beautiful, 3,407 students submitted their artwork this year and at least one winner was chosen from each grade level. The 12 winning designs are assigned to a month in the calendar and two additional are featured on the front and back cover of the 2020 Don’t mess with Texas calendar.
“I’m really excited that Edinburg North High School had a winner for the second time in a row, which I believe we are the only school that’s been able to pull that off,” Manuel Saenz Jr., head of the Edinburg North High School Fine Arts Department, said in a press release. “I’m so proud of Brittlee.”
Each student wins a framed version of their winning artwork, a $100 Visa gift card donated by Keep Texas Beautiful and a gift basket full of their favorite goodies from Texas’ legendary store Buc-ee’s. Teachers representing students who produce the top 14 designs also win a $100 H-E-B/Central Market gift card.
