Smithfield Fourth Grader's Drawing a Finalist For Google Doodle Contest

Fourth-grader Katie Heenan's drawing, "Deep Sea Search", portraying her recent family trip to Discovery Cove is a finalist in Google's national Doodle 4 Google contest.

The Raymond C. LaPerche Elementary School student's artistic talent, combined with her enthusiasm for swimming with dolphins and stingrays, could win her a $30,000 scholarship if the drawing bests the finalists from the other 50 states.  

To do that, she'll need votes, and lots of them, as Americans weigh in on their favorite doodles from May 1 through May 10^t at the Doodle 4 Google website. But the rewards wouldn't be Katie's alone — if she wins LaPerch School gets a $50,000 technology grant. 

When Katie read that the theme for the contest was to draw her "best day ever," the Discovery Cove trip came right to mind, said her mom, Kellie. "She immediately knew that's what she was going to draw," she said.  

Katie worked on the drawing for three weeks, free-hand. Just before school, the family went swimming at a Jamestown beach, where there were a lot of jellyfish in the water with them (non poisonous). The creatures got added in to the drawing too, Kellie said.

"She just has amazing skills," said Google's Sandra Cadrecha, who announced Katie as the finalist to a cafeteria full of Katie's fellow students. "I really like the turtle," said her partner, Google's Roya Soleimani.

Katie said the morning was a surprise to her, though she was tipped off to something unusual afoot when the assembly started, and she saw her parents, Kellie and Tom. 

Katie, who said she isn't a big fan of the spotlight, said her favorite part of the morning was getting her photo taken with her classmates. She said a lot of the details of her finalist status, including a free trip to New York, slipped her notice in the excitement.

"I think she just surpassed her best day," said Katie's grandfather, Al Belliveau, there with Sandra, Katie's grandmother. 

But Katie said her favorite day is still the trip to Discovery Cove, so the bar's been set pretty high for her parents. "What do we do next?" Kellie wondered.

Follow us on Twitter | Like us on Facebook | Sign up for our free daily newsletter