OUC has announced that the winner of its 2022 Water Color Project calendar cover contest is Kaelean P., a fifth-grade student at Arbor Ridge K-8. Kaelean’s artwork, titled “Give a hand to save our land,” will grace the cover of the 2022 Water Color Project calendar.
For the first time, OUC customers and the community were able to vote for the calendar’s cover artwork. Kaelean’s artwork received more than 900 reactions in the contest held on OUC’s Facebook page.
Fourth- and fifth-grade students across Orange County Public Schools (OCPS) were invited to create calendar artwork, and each school selected a maximum of 10 entries to submit. Approximately 113 students from 13 elementary schools submitted entries. OUC employees selected 13 submissions for the 2022 calendar based on originality, artistic skill, water conservation message or slogan, and suitability for reproduction in the calendar. The other 12 entries will represent the months of the year.
Since 2006, OUC’s Water Color Project has taught future generations about water conservation and the importance of this natural resource through art. Students receive a lesson on water conservation and then develop artwork, messages, and slogans for submission for OUC’s annual Water Color Project calendar. OUC and OCPS are partners in the program.
Over the past 15 years, more than 100 elementary schools and over 25,000 fourth and fifth graders have participated in the annual calendar contest. More than 5,000 calendars are distributed each year.