Field Notes - State - Fish art contest at the texas freshwater fisheries center

When a student starts on the journey to enter the State Fish Art contest, they put paint and color to paper. [music] And they decided not to do something else at that moment but to learn, to study, create and use their skill, their imagination and draw a state fish. That’s pretty remarkable when we have computers and t.v. and all these distractions. And in doing so, these young people have joined the ranks of America’s great conservation movement. They've become conservationists and stewards of our fish, our lakes, our streams. There is a combination of science and art in this in that they all-every one of these kids that has art out here on the tables has written an essay about their fish. So they all learn something about these fishes, and that is my goal. And I also hope that they'll get out and actually see some of these fish. So we want to get them out fishing and outside. We’re connecting young people to the great outdoors through the arts. Education has the potential to change people in a fundamental way. Where we do habitat enhancement and wildlife management, we change the land. But education changes people. And it’s through education that we'll pass on the stewardship of our natural resources. [music] [judges talking] [off camera judge] Number 21 is 10 plus 9, plus 9, plus 9, plus 10. The 10th through 12th grade kids, the top winner gets $1000. The 2nd place gets $750. The 3rd place gets $500. From Livingston, Texas, the winning largemouth bass artwork, Brady King. [music] This one right here is a channel catfish, similar to the blue cat. They just don’t get nearly as big. The channel catfish and blue catfish are mainly scavengers. They eat mostly dead stuff. This is hard! Oh, I’m not strong enough! [music] And our plan is to spark the natural wonder that all children have for wildlife and the environment. And the goal is to foster this lifelong connection to the wild because we are connecting people to the wild.