The streets of Northern Nevada are about to get brighter as many Reno taxi tops will display beautiful artwork inspired by Northern Nevada and created by students in the Washoe County School District.
The 6th Annual Taxi-Top Design Competition, sponsored by the EDAWN Foundation and the Washoe County School District, highlights the artistic talents of the region’s students.
As part of the competition, students were asked to create a taxi-top design representing “why the Greater Reno-Sparks region and Northern Nevada is a great place to live, work and play.” The three first-place winning designs, will be displayed on Whittlesea taxis for a year and will receive $500 to offset the cost of much-needed classroom art supplies. One winner was selected from each category of school; high school, middle school, and elementary. Additionally, the EDAWN Foundation members expanded the contest last year to include awarding the top seven runners up designs with $500 for their art classrooms.
“Northern Nevada has a thriving arts scene, which makes our community such a wonderful place to live, work and play,” said Nancy Fennell, CEO of Dickson Realty and a member of the EDAWN Foundation Board. “These taxi tops will show off our region’s beauty and the talent of its young artists.”
The ten winning designs included students from Huffaker Elementary, Pleasant Valley Elementary, Sparks Middle School, Coral Academy of Science, Swope Middle School, Damonte High School, Academy of Arts, Careers and Technology, Hug High School and North Valleys High School. The winning students are:
Elementary School Reno Taxi Art Winners:
Reese Hansen, Huffaker Elementary School
- 1st: Reese Hansen, Huffaker Elementary School
- 2nd: Sydney O’Meara, Pleasant Valley Elementary School
- 3rd: Nahom Belihu, Huffaker Elementary School
Middle School Reno Taxi Art Winners:
Shahriya Jhomo, Sparks Middle School
- 1st: Shahriya Jhomo, Sparks Middle School
- 2nd: Megan Velazquez, Coral Academy of Science Middle School
- 3rd: Cole Draper, Swope Middle School
High School Reno Taxi Art Winners:
Haven Flores, Damonte High School
- 1st: Haven Flores, Damonte High School
- 2nd: Dominique Miller, Academy of Arts, Careers and Technology
- 3rd: Tie between Aladiana Tosado, Hug High School, and Joanna Ayala, North Valleys High School
Winners were selected by members of the Arts Community and the EDAWN Foundation.
“I’m so proud of our students who submitted their artwork for the Taxi-Top competition this year,” said WCSD Superintendent Dr. Kristen McNeill. “They are so artistic, and created some beautiful designs. I look forward to this event each year, and appreciate our partnership with EDAWN that makes this opportunity possible for our students.”
The EDAWN Foundation is a private, non-profit 501c3, founded by the EDAWN Board to educate visitors, businesses and local citizens about economic advancement, growth and regional economic development opportunities. For more information, or to support the taxi-top campaign visit www.edawn.org.
