This summer, the Office of Information Technology hosted its first campus-wide Student Art Contest to help students showcase their creativity, ingenuity, and talents. We encouraged students from every school at UTD to participate to gauge students’ thoughts and feelings about the TechKnowledgy Bar TechBar is not only to help students in their times of need, but also, serves as a social space. This art contest encourages UTD’s visionary students to bring their one-of-a-kind minds to TechBar.Our three winners, Kevin J.(1st), Shreya G.(2nd), and Oluwaseun A.(3rd), submitted unique art pieces that were voted upon by the UTD community.
In response to what it meant to make the top three artists in the TechBar art contest, Kevin stated, “I feel honored to be a part of it and I love the fact that you (All)guys posted about it and did a lot of promotion because I think it helps you (all)guys serve your purpose of informing more about the technology bar, and then for me, it’s just good to know that I can still do art even if I’m a business major”.
Shreya provided her insight on the intersection of technology and the arts and how it impacted her art submission, “I think there is a lot of unexplored intersection of technology and arts people don’t realize it anymore … I’ve been exposed to different sides of art and design, and I truly think that gives me a holistic approach to a lot of technical things”.
Oluwaseun, first semester student at UTD, shared his experience of the art contest, “This is my first semester (as a UTD student), so it gives me an idea of university life and its activities here at UTD. This contest is one of the first activities or events on campus that I’ve participated in. It has allowed me to express myself creatively. I think events or activities like this contest will make anyone feel engaged and actively adapt to school activities.”
Congratulations to all the winners and participants in the first annual TechBar Student Art Contest! We had a great time watching you all take part in this contest, and we are so impressed by your talent. Given the success of student participation and recognition from the UTD Mercury newspaper, the contest will continue in the future. We can’t wait to see what you come up with next year!