A painting by Nivedha Neelakandan from Redmond Middle School was good enough to win first place in a recent regional contest. The eighth grader was best for her age group in the 2021 Junior Duck Stamp program. Nivedha painted a long tail duck for her entry. For getting first place, she received a first-place ribbon and a shot at representing Washington state in the nationwide contest. She didn’t move onto nationals, but another student from LWSD was given that honor.

According to the program’s website, the annual art contest encourages students to observe wildlife and create their vision of the colorful, winged waterfowl that grace wetlands across North America. The objective is to create an original depiction of waterfowl while learning about waterfowl and wetland habitats and submit it to the contest.