Fernley High grad wins visual art competition

Robert Perea, The Fernley Reporter

Recent Fernley High School graduate Brooklyn Harvey recently won the 2023 Congressional Art Competition for Nevada’s 2nd Congressional District.

Harvey won for her photo “Spring Frost in Nevada.”

She and the winners of each of the other Congressional Districts in the country will be honored at a dinner in Washington D.C. on June 20, and her photo will hang on display in the Capitol in Washington D.C. for one year.

Each spring, the Congressional Institute sponsors a nationwide high school visual art competition to recognize and encourage artistic talent in the nation and in each congressional district. Since the Artistic Discovery competition began in 1982, more than 650,000 high school students have participated.

Harvey took the photo as part of a class assignment, which she described as similar to a scavenger hunt. She said she likes to shoot close-up shots of nature. The photo shows native vegetation covered with a layer of frost.

FHS teacher Jackie Kingston submitted students’ photographs for the contest, and Harvey said she was very surprised to find out she’d won.

“But it was very exciting,” she said.

Harvey said she only began photography when she first took a class at FHS as a sophomore, and she only shoots as part of her photography class because she doesn’t own a camera.

Harvey said she’s been to Washington D.C. before, and she’s mostly looking forward to the trip because her dad, Cole Harvey, will be going with her and he’s never been to Washington D.C.

“I’m going to show him around, show him all the landmarks,” she said.

Harvey plans to attend Truckee Meadows Community College to become a paramedic, but she said she may continue taking photography classes as a hobby.