Why would Utah High School students be honored on the senate floor during the 2015 legislative session?  To be recognized by the senators who represent them for their beautiful renditions of the Utah State Capitol and in celebration of the arts. 

One hundred-ninety-five of Utah’s High School students participated in the Utah Senate Art Scholarship Competition sponsored by Senate President Wayne Niederhauser. 

“The idea came from President Niederhauser’s office in an effort to challenge Utah’s students to view the world artistically and express their creativity by using the capitol as a subject,” Laura Durham, Utah Division of Arts and Museums marketing and communications manager said. 

Given the theme: “Celebration of Utah’s beautiful capitol building and in salute to the Utah legislature working on behalf of Utah’s citizens,” students were asked to create original, two-dimensional images of the Utah State Capitol using only these items: oil, pen, ink, watercolor, printmaking, graphic design and digital drawing. 

Local Olympus High student Alyssa Bowman took first place to receive a $5,000 scholarship. Her painting of the capitol will hang in the Utah Senate suite on Capitol Hill.

The remaining winners were:

North Sanpete School District

North Sanpete High School 

$3,000 scholarship

Salt Lake City School District 

West High School 

$1,000 scholarship

Fourth—10th places received $500.  Awards of $300 went to 11th-25th places. The scholarships were in the form of Utah Education Savings Plan accounts.

Arts Day on the Hill is administered by the Utah Cultural Alliance and is filled with creating art, entertainment and a place for Utah’s arts communities to get to know their elected legislators. This is the first year this scholarship competition has been held.