By admin 
PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Three Valley students won first place in a national contest celebrating America’s 250th birthday.
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The America250 contest challenged students across the nation to submit artwork, poems or essays answering the prompt “What does America mean to me?”
First-place winners got to pick from a list of 15 field trips.
Jason, a 10-year-old fourth grader from Chandler, created artwork featuring the Founding Fathers signing the Declaration of Independence, Neil Armstrong planting the U.S. flag, the Liberty Bell, the Statue of Liberty and the Washington Monument.
“I like drawing because drawing can relax me, so I chose art,” Jason said of his artwork chock-full with meaningful U.S. history and symbolism.
Zhenrui Gu, a 16-year-old 11th grader from Chandler, created a monochrome piece contrasting scenes of war with a soldier holding a small child.
It was a pivot from the common association of America’s 250th anniversary with a celebration.
“I wanted to honor another side of that. The side of war, loss and sacrifice that so many people had to go through to shape the nation that we have today,” Zhenrui said. “I really think that the American flag serves as a symbol for hope and opportunity in America.”
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Kitelynn, a 9-year-old fourth grader from Queen Creek, drew a piece featuring flowers and branches.
“My art represents my gratefulness to the past and the soldiers that fought in the war for us,” Kitelynn said. “The flowers represent my freedoms that I have now. And then the branches represent the freedoms that I will have when I am an adult.”
For their chosen field trips, Jason will travel to Boston, Kitelynn will visit North Dakota and South Dakota, and Zhenrui will go to San Francisco.
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