Connor Dong, an eighth grader at Orinda Intermediate and Aavya Khanna, a fifth-grade student at Wagner Ranch Elementary with their 2023 T-Shirt Contest winning designs for the Orinda Classic Car Show and July 4 Parade respectively.
“I wasn’t expecting this,” he said, giving a thumbs up. “It was kind of shocking,” she said. Connor Dong, an eighth grader at Orinda Intermediate and Aavya Khanna, a fifth grade student at Wagner Ranch Elementary are the 2023 T-Shirt Contest winners for the Orinda Classic Car Show and July 4 Parade, respectively.
Open to all Orinda kindergarten through seventh grade students, the July 4 design had to be hand-drawn whereas middle and high schoolers created original digital art.
At the urging of her mother, Khanna who only drew in art class, worked at the kitchen counter. It was a “one and done,” as she submitted her first design.
She included Liberty, Freedom and Justice as “they are what the Fourth of July represents to me.”
Having seen his mom’s t-shirt from a previous year, Dong was inspired to enter the first-ever, student-designed Classic Car Show T-Shirt Contest. An artist, Dong spent five hours during a family trip drawing the winning entry on his iPad.
The Orinda Association, which sponsors both free and public events, invited students back to the designing process for July, which had a hiatus since 2008 and added the car show. “We are proud of the support from the community, art teachers, office staff, the library, parents’ associations from all campuses and ONE Orinda,” said President Sally Hogarty.
Visit www.orindaorganization.org to view all t-shirt entries.
Kathy Enzerink can be reached at kathy@theorindanews.com.
