{"id":2288,"date":"2026-06-24T19:33:40","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T19:33:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=2288"},"modified":"2026-06-24T19:33:40","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T19:33:40","slug":"arizona-student-wins-first-place-in-america-250-contest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=2288","title":{"rendered":"Arizona student wins first place in America 250 contest"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p>CHANDLER, AZ \u2014 A Hamilton High School student was one of 250 national first-place winners in the America 250: America\u2019s Field Trip contest.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=2286\">Bashas\u2019 partners with Amazon on grocery delivery, pickup service at 4 Valley locations<\/a><\/p>\n<p>In the contest, students had to answer the question: What does America mean to you? They were able to choose between writing an essay and submitting artwork. Winners of the contest get a paid field trip to some of America\u2019s landmarks.<\/p>\n<p>For Zhenrui Gu, a soon-to-be senior at Hamilton High, she chose to go with art. She said she\u2019s loved art since she was a little girl, so when an opportunity came up to showcase her talents, she took advantage of it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think art has always been a form of self-expression for me, so I&#8217;ve done art ever since I was around five years old, taking art classes at my art teacher\u2019s studio,\u201d she told ABC15.<\/p>\n<p>Gu found out about the contest through social media and spent hours on her artwork with her teacher.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m really glad I&#8217;m able to show through my youth perspective, what I feel for this nation, my patriotism and how I love America,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>The artwork she chose to go with, she feels, is the opposite of what some other kids would think of. Her painting was about the sacrifices that were made that got America to where it is today.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=2285\">Pinal County Attorney clears Mark Lamb of criminal wrongdoing, closes investigation<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Her piece shows a soldier holding a child during the war.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wanted to show that in the background, there\u2019s a lot of chaos and destruction happening, but in the forefront here, as you can tell there is an American soldier holding a small child, meaning that in a moment of chaos, there can also be moments of protection and humanity as well,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n<p>Most of the painting is monochrome. The American flag on the soldier\u2019s uniform was the only thing in color.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat really shows, for me, the American flag as a symbol of hope and opportunity in this nation,\u201d Gu said.<\/p>\n<p>Being in the first-place group, Gu gets to choose to go to one of fifteen historical landmarks. She chose to go to San Francisco. Her trip is slated for August.<\/p>\n<p>Gu isn\u2019t the only Arizonan to win in the first-place group; two fourth-grade students\u00a0also won.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=2283\">Phoenix cracks top 5 for US conference cities as face-to-face events surge<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Hamilton High School student was one of 250 national first-place winners in the America 250: America\u2019s Field Trip contest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2287,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-america-250"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Arizona student wins first place in America 250 contest - 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