Girl’s Design Picked for Festival T-Shirts

When given an honor, some award winners laugh and others cry. Samantha Peralta, 11, chose to giggle when she learned Tuesday that her artistic design had been selected to grace the youth T-shirts at this year’s California Strawberry Festival.

Samantha, along with the other sixth-graders from Blackstock Elementary School, went to Heritage Square on a field trip. Unbeknownst to the students, festival board members had chosen Samantha’s design out of 1,072 entries and were planning to spring the news on the class.

Executive board member Sue Odgers stood in front of the group and modeled the winning shirt, which features a drawing of California with an arrow pointing toward Oxnard and the words “The strawberry capital of the world.”

“I was really surprised,” said Samantha. “I had no clue anything like this would happen.”

Tracy Aberle, Samantha’s teacher, lauded her student’s artistic skills. “Samantha is such a natural. She is always very detailed in her drawings and is especially good with perspectives in art.”

Samantha received a complimentary T-shirt sporting her design and free entrance to the festival for her family. The 16th annual California Strawberry Festival will be held May 15 and 16 from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. at Strawberry Meadows of College Park.