Drawing contest inspires nuclear artwork

Pictured above: Cassie Grosse (left) and Kelsey Johnson with their winning drawings. (27K JPG)

"Nuclear Power can't clean your room, but it can help your environment," wrote Cassie Grosse when asked to draw about the many ways in which nuclear science and technology (NS&T) can make our lives better. Grosse's drawing and Kelsey Johnson's collage of everyday applications of NS&T are winners of the First Annual North American Young Generation in Nuclear (NA-YGN) Drawing Contest. The contest originated when NA-YGN members visited several fourth- and fifth-grade classrooms at Madison-area public schools and gave presentations about nuclear science and technology. Afterward, students made drawings about what they learned.

Thanks to the support of the UW-Madison Department of Engineering Physics, the pictures were exhibited during the American Nuclear Society national meeting in San Diego, California. From nearly 150 colorful drawings, the judges (the ANS president and vice president, the Canadian Nuclear Society president and a representative of the Nuclear Energy Institute) chose the two drawings.

Each winner received a $100 U.S. savings bond, a NA-YGN T-shirt and a VIP tour of the college's nuclear reactor. In addition, each student's school library received a copy of the books, Nuclear Power: Villain or Victim, by Emeritus Professor Max W. Carbon, Understanding Radiation by Bjorn Walhstrom and America the Powerless by Alan Waltar.

Given the resounding success of this first year pilot contest, and the interest generated within the nuclear community, the NA-YGN plans to expand next year's contest to all of North America.