Doodle 4 Google Finalist Goes to New York City

Doodle 4 Google national winner to be announced

A Rockwall seventh-grader is on her way to the Big Apple in the hopes of seeing her artwork grace Google's homepage.

Piper Fisk, of Maurine Cain Middle School, and her family flew to New York City to attend an awards ceremony Thursday.

Piper is one of 50 state winners selected from more than 114,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade who submitted entries in this year's Doodle 4 Google Competition.

Google will display the finalist's artwork on its homepage for millions to see. The winner also gets $30,000 for college and $50,000 for his or her school's technology program.

"This is just a dream come true," Piper said. "I just wanted to make it to this point, and I did."

Her family said it is just grateful she made it this far.

"We've already won, when you think about it -- 114,000 entries, and she's one of 50, so we've already won," said her father, Tony Fisk. "Now it's just a fun time, fun time."

"I'm so excited because she's such a good artist, and I'm so happy that she's made it this far," said her sister, Jill Fisk.

"If she doesn't win, I'm just happy she made it this far, but that'd be cool if she won," she said.

Piper chose to put her passion for horses on paper for her "doodle" in response to the theme, "If I could travel in time, I would visit..." She said she would visit the horse Secretariat winning the Triple Crown.

"I love horses, and Secretariat sent us a really good message that if you work hard in what you believe in, you can accomplish that dream," she said.

"I couldn't imagine it happening to a sweeter kid," said Jason Johnston, Maurine Middle School principal. "Piper's an outstanding student, and she obviously has tremendous talent in art."

The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston will display the artwork of the Texas finalists this summer. The artwork of all 50 state winners will be displayed in a special exhibit at the New York Public Library.

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