Xin-Yang Saoirse Chen of Torrey Pines Elementary School created a drawing with a theme of environmental protection.
For nearly all of her 10-year life, Xin-Yang Saoirse Chen has had a passion for nature and art. Blending the two together, the fourth-grader at Torrey Pines Elementary School in La Jolla (who goes by Saoirse) recently submitted a drawing to an art contest sponsored by state Assemblywoman Tasha Boerner in honor of Earth Day on April 22 and walked away with the Best Creativity Award.
The contest was open to all students in Boerner’s 77th District, which includes La Jolla and San Diego County coastal communities from Carlsbad to Coronado.
“Each year I look forward to hosting my annual Earth Day Youth Art Contest because it reminds me to look at our planet through our children’s eyes,” Boerner said. “I encourage all of us to learn something from our kids … and make sustainable choices for them. Let our Earth Day art contest winners inspire you to make ‘greener’ decisions. When we do, we give our children and our children’s children a brighter future and a longer life here on Earth.”
Saoirse, one of three contest winners in different categories, said she was “happy and surprised” to receive the creativity recognition, though she also said she was “determined to win” when she entered.
“I got interested in art when I was 3 years old because I like to draw,” she said. “When I was little, I copied others, and as I got older I started making my own designs. I like sketching the most and I like coloring and painting. I like the feeling of putting pencil to paper and letting it have a mind of its own.”
Saoirse added that she’s grown up spending time outdoors and has visited nearly 80 national park sites and monuments, including Shenandoah National Park in Virginia and Channel Islands National Park off Southern California, where she saw dolphins. She has earned approximately 80 Junior Ranger badges.
So when she heard about the art contest, she was immediately interested.
“I liked the idea because I like the Earth,” Saoirse said. “If we don’t care about the Earth, we could hurt the animals that live here and in the ocean.”
For her art piece, Saoirse wrote the word “Earth” with depictions embedded in the letters of environment-friendly steps people can take.
For example, “E” represents water and electricity conservation, so the top of the E includes a drawing of a water spout and the bottom includes a drawing of a lightbulb. The letter “R” stands for the three R’s of “reduce, reuse and recycle” and features the symbol for that initiative.
Surrounding the “Earth” centerpiece are drawings of continents and marine animals because “I don’t want garbage to go into the ocean,” Saoirse said.
Saoirse has not had formal art training but said she felt supported by her family and her Torrey Pines Elementary School art teacher, Kaity Johannsen.
Saoirse’s piece will be hung in Boerner’s Sacramento office for the rest of Boerner’s time there.