Amelia Jensen sat at her kitchen table in Palos Heights surrounded by a sea of colored pencils and rough sketches. The Palos Heights Woman’s Club had just announced the annual vehicle sticker design contest for students in fifth grade and she was excited about entering.
A fifth-grader at Palos East School, Amelia knew the stakes were high. Every year, tens of thousands of cars would drive through the city proudly displaying the winning artwork on their windshields.
She had an idea for her design. “Our school mascot is Charlie the cardinal and the Illinois state bird is the cardinal,” she said. “That was my first thought of how to start the design.”
Rules allowed contestants to use only four colors: red, blue, green and brown. Amelia’s final design was selected from among more than 50 entries from students at Palos East, St. Alexander’s and Navajo schools.
The result was a drawing of Charlie the cardinal driving a car with a front license plate that reads: Palos 118. There is a brownish penny in the top left corner and there are wings on each side of the vehicle. The words “Palos Heights” are visible above the vehicle.
Palos Heights Woman’s Club President Nancy Clark said that each year the club drafts a letter inviting all fifth-graders in Palos Heights to create and design the city’s vehicle sticker for that year.
“We always get a lot of great entries,” she said. “This year, Amelia’s really stood out.”
Palos Heights Mayor Bob Straz presented Amelia with a certificate for winning the design contest at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.
“I was so happy and excited,” said Amelia, who said her favorite subjects are reading and writing. “I had a lot of fun sketching and coloring my design.”
Mom Jennifer said her daughter “writes poetry for fun and is always coloring.” “We have more art supplies than we know what to do with.”
Amelia’s dad is Craig and she has a brother named Nathan.
