Community Corner

A Tolland Whiz Kid: Lindsey Coffua

The Tolland Intermediate School third-grader could see her doodle on the US Google.com's homepage.

Name: Lindsey Coffua

Age: 8

School: Tolland Intermediate School

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Accomplishments: By using her artistic ability to answer the question "What I'd like to do someday..." Lindsey has catapulted herself, and her creative talent, nearly into the national spotlight.

Lindsey is the New England region's finalist for her age group in the annual Doodle 4 Google competition, a time when the search engine giant takes a break from designing its famous doodle homepage logos and gives someone else a chance.

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A third grader at TIS and student at the Connecticut Art School in South Windsor, Lindsey is one of 10 students ranging in age from kindergarten through third grade to be a finalist in the Region 1 section. Her doodle was chosen from tens of thousands before being whittled down to 100 and then 10.

Although not shy while drawing, Lindsey was hesitant to talk about her accomplishment Thursday night after being honored at the beginning of a school board meeting.

"I love drawing," she said quietly while looking at her mother Sharon Coffua seated next to her, and as father Kevin Coffua watched her younger brother Patrick dance around holding a copy of the winning doodle.

"And she's really good at it," her identical twin sister Rachel, who had also entered the contest, quickly added.

The details: The doodles (all in each of the four age-restricted catagories) were judged on four criteria:

  • Artistic merit
  • Creativity
  • Theme communication
  • Appropriateness of the supporting statement

Lindsey's doodle incorporates various items she might create or the tools she'd use to create her artwork, including a sculpture, a sketchbook, an easel, and art supplies. Her supporting statement - the answer to Google's question - was: "What I would like to do someday is be an artist because I love to draw. I want to create great works of sculpture, painting and illustration for people to enjoy."

Voting for the competition ends Friday, May 13 at 5 p.m. Pacific Time (or 8 p.m. Eastern Time). Lindsey and her family will travel to New York City to the Google offices on May 19 to take part in various art programs and to hear whether she will be one of four national finalists or the national winner.

The winning artist will win a $15,000 scholarship and a $25,000 technology grant for their school, and have his or her doodle featured on the U.S. Google.com's homepage.

Key to awesomeness: Already, Lindsey's doodle is getting national recognition. 

As part of the competition Lindsey's doodle is displayed on the walls of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

It has also been judged by the likes of children's author Beverly Cleary and children's author and illustrator Maira Kalman, Garfield creator Jim Davis, "Sponge Bob Square Pants" executive producer Paul Tibbitt and actress and comedienne Whoopi Goldberg, among several others.


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