‘I felt confident about myself’ | Voting starts for Boys & Girls Club Black History Month art contest

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) - Voting is now open for the US Cellular and Boys & Girls Club Black History Month art contest.

Members of the clubs created original pieces representing influential Black icons in science, technology, engineering and math. The finalists were picked from a panel of leaders based on creativity, quality, clarity of theme and overall impression.

They have drawn people like technologist Angela Benton, who founded NewMe a start-up company that has raised more than $40 million for hundreds of entrepreneurs, and scientist Dr. Sylvester James Gates Jr. who co-authored the first comprehensive book on supersymmetry in 1984.

Kids like 8-year-old Roman tables drew NASA’s first Black female engineer, Mary Winston Jackson.

“I like math like her. I might want to teach people other math,” said Staples. “I felt confident about myself, because last year I didn’t feel confident.”

Arts Director Josh Smith said he has seen more participation from his students. Plus, they were given an entire month to work on their art for the first time.

“I think that that has been a really beneficial change and has created like a higher quality, our standard for these things and a lot of really neat pieces were created because of it,” Smith said.

The top three winners will be announced in March and win gift cards from $100 to $250.

Those interested can vote for their favorites here. Voting is open until Feb. 28.

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