MERIDIAN, Miss. (Queen City Newsfeed) – A sixth-grade student at Magnolia Middle School has earned national recognition after being named a winner in the Canva Student Design Challenge, held in conjunction with National STEM Day.
Alexia Guzman-Vasconcelos was one of five students nationwide selected as a winner in the My Future STEM Job Poster category, a competition encouraging students to blend creativity with science, technology, engineering and math concepts through digital design.
“I was actually very surprised because I expected there to be students more creative than me who would have made something better than what I had made,” Guzman-Vasconcelos said.
Guzman-Vasconcelos said her participation in the Meridian Public School District’s Explorer program helped nurture her artistic interests through hands-on learning and art-focused activities.
The Canva Student Design Challenge invited students across the country to showcase STEM concepts through original designs. Using Canva’s design platform, Guzman-Vasconcelos created a poster highlighting her vision of a future STEM-related career, combining artistic creativity with critical thinking and technical skills.
Her submission stood out among entries nationwide, earning her recognition as a contest winner. As part of the honor, she received a Canva swag pack, and her design will be featured for a global audience.
The student centered her poster on a STEM-related fashion design career, saying she enjoys creating clothing.
“I’d like to make a clothing line that’s affordable, but still clothes that you would use in your everyday life,” she said.
Sally Graham, the librarian at Magnolia Middle School, encouraged Guzman-Vasconcelos and other students to enter the contest.
“I’m always on the lookout to foster the arts for the kids,” Graham said. “I was thrilled for her. I was delighted that Magnolia had a student who not only participated but actually won. That’s really cool when a kid wins a nationwide contest like that.”
More information about the Canva Student Design Challenge is available at Canva’s student design challenge website.
https://public.canva.site/student-design-challenge
