Making a point

Abby Milligan loves cantaloupe snow cones, playing her guitar and collects snowglobes from wherever she travels. She also loves art and for this, Abby, who is set to graduate from Hobbs High in less than two weeks, was honored for a doodle she created of her family. But it was all a big surprise to her and her high school bandmates.

Members of the Hobbs High School Eagle Band donned blue, red, green or gold T-shirts bearing the word Google on the front Thursday morning before they entered the band hall.

The students thought they were wearing the shirts because Google heard about the Eagle band and some Google representatives were in town to interview them. In reality, the Google team was there to announce that Abby was the New Mexico winner of the Doodle-4Google competition.

Google was established in 1998, was started by two students, said Google co-host Adam Feldenkris.

“We know students are creative,” Adam said. “Our theme for this year’s contest, Doodle4 is “What Inspires Me.”

Feldenkris said 200,000 people entered this year’s Google Doodle contest and, “the winner in New Mexico is in this room with you.”

Then a drum roll started as Abby’s parents, Scott and Elisa Milligan, her brother and sisters, the rest of her family, and Highland Middle School English teacher Karla Humphrey, all quietly walked into the band hall for the big surprise as Abby stood up to be recognized. Processing what she just heard and what she was seeing, Abby covered her face with her hands before turning to bandmates, flashing a brilliant smile.

Abby’s Google Doodle, which depicts all of her family’s female members and two small nephews, was displayed on the screen in the band hall. They are sitting behind a long table, happily making tamales, which is a family favorite.

“I have a great family guys,” Abby said controlling her tears of excitement with laughter. “No matter what I do they are there for me and I just wanted to show that.”

Abby explained that the drawing was done with dots and a variety of colors. She said it took her about a week to complete.

“It’s a pointillism technique and I love doing it all the time,” Abby said. “It’s showing me and my family making tamales. It’s one of my favorite pastimes and I love doing it at Christmas ... to sit around my family and just talk.”

Scott and Elisa said they learned about the Google award several weeks ago.

“and keeping it a secret was one of the hardest things I ever did,” Elisa said. “But I did it.”

Scott agreed. “We went through our morning routine as usual this morning and (Abby) didn’t suspect a thing,” he said.

Abby, who received recognition from several different sources at Wednesday’s awards assembly, plans to attend New Mexico State University at Las Cruces this fall.

“I’m going to major in psychology,” Abby said. “And I want to specialize in childhood development.”

Humphrey, who exchanged hugs with Abby, said Abby is one of the best students from a class, “who were the best when they were at Highland and they are still the best.”

As for Abby’s drawing the fun is just starting. It’s one of 10 semifinalists in the 10th12th-grade division. There are five age divisions and one will be chosen from each age division. Voting for Abby’s drawing can be done by anyone starting tomorrow and lasting through May 18. By visiting www.doodle4google.com, anyone can vote once daily per device, meaning one person can vote separately on their phone, computer and/or tablet device.

The five national finalists will receive a $5,000 scholarship and trip to Google’s national headquarters in California where the national winner will be announced in June. The winning artwork will be featured on google.com, and the national winner receives a $30,000 scholarship among other prizes. The winner’s school will receive a $50,000 technology package.

Dorothy N. Fowler can be reached at education@hobbsnews.com.