LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Doodling is something that has always come natural to 16-year-old Milo Golding.
"I used to draw on everything. Even when I visited a relative's house, they'd have to put paper on the walls just to keep me from damaging the actual walls that I would draw on," Golding laughed.
Now, he has taken those drawings off the walls and is turning them into something inspiring. Milo, a junior at LCA, has just been named the finalist for Kentucky in the Doodle for Google competition. He is one of just 54 finalists in the entire nation, and he said it was the theme this year that inspired him to enter.
"This year's theme was, 'I am strong because...,'" Golding said. "I put I am strong because I have hope. One of the main reasons for that is I remember having a conversation with my father about how he went through life's obstacles to become who he was, and he said, 'Hope. Hope makes me strong.'"
Tragically, his father passed away of a heart attack when Milo was just 13, but he said it has been that message of hope his father instilled in him that has motivated him to achieve goals and give back to his community; it's also the soul of Milo's doodle.
Golding described his illustration, "The two characters in the middle represent my father comforting me and telling me how important hope is and giving me that hope. One of the most touching aspects of the illustration for me was the lower-case g. It symbolizes me when I was in isolation during a cold time of my life, but the scarf and the mittens on my character were gifts that my father gave me on our last Christmas together, and that really warms me."
His doodle is now in the running to be on Google.com, and it could earn him some serious scholarship money. Golding has plans to go to medical school to study cardiology, also in honor of his father, but regardless, his work now serves forever as a symbol of hope and a token of his father's legacy that lives on through him.
"It really helped me remember great experiences I had with him and reflect on what to take from those experiences," Golding said.
Click here to vote for Milo or scan the QR code below. Click on the grades 10-12 category and vote for Kentucky. Votes can be cast once per day, per device. Voting ends May 15 at 2:59 a.m.
