Glacier High School senior Valarie Kittle’s drawing of the Lake McDonald Lodge has been selected to be on the 2014 Glacier National Park pass.
The drawing will be printed on about 14,000 annual passes issued next year starting in January. Kittle’s drawing marks the second time in just as many years that the pass artwork was created by a Glacier High School student.
“I was surprised,” Kittle said. “I didn’t think I would win. A lot of people entered.”
Now Kittle and two other Glacier High School students, Isabella Ridgeway and Rosalie Tozer, will receive gift certificates from the Glacier National Park Conservancy, a partner in the contest. Kittle’s drawing features the historic Lake McDonald Lodge with a Red Bus parked out front. When Kittle first heard about the contest and it’s theme – cultural resources inside the park – she took her family up to the lodge on a winter weekend.
“I snapped like a hundred photos,” she said.
Park spokesperson Denise Germann said the theme of cultural resources was picked because 2014 is the 100th anniversary of some important park icons, including the Lake McDonald Lodge, the Sperry Chalet and the Granite Park Chalet.
Next year’s park pass will be the second to feature artwork by a local student. Glacier National Park Conservancy’s Wendy Hill said she hopes the annual art contest continues into the future.
“It builds a stewardship with the children, so they have feelings for and connections to Glacier National Park,” she said.
For more information about the park and the art contest, visit www.nps.gov/glac.