Manchester Student Wins Statewide T-Shirt Competition

Julia Sink, a Manchester High School senior, won the t-shirt design contest for the School Nutrition Association of Virginia. The T-Shirt design contest was made for the preparation of the association’s conference in March.

Sink has been very active in learning graphic design skills since her freshman year as a member of Manchester’s Mass Communications Specialty Center Program. She has created designs for other companies such as Soar365, Christmas Mother of Chesterfield and Colonial Heights, and within Manchester’s school. 

In October of 2022, Sink and a classmate also created a poster for the association’s National School Lunch Week that was featured around Chesterfield County Public School buildings throughout the week. 

“Since I love graphic design, and I have been doing graphic design work for CCPS’s nutrition association, when Ms. O’Brien told me about this contest I really wanted to do it,” said Sink. 

Ms. O’Brien, one of the Mass Communications Specialty Center teachers, regularly looks for  opportunities

for Mass Communication’s students to work with companies, organizations, and associations for students to create graphic design work. 

“A lot of our opportunities come from the community; we are alerted by other teachers, food nutrition services, and our schools WBL coordinator, Mrs. Fagan,” said Ms. O’Brien. “Anytime I see an opportunity for my students to create or get their artwork out there, I encourage them to take it.” 

Julia’s process included creating well thought out designs for the t-shirt that she thought would follow along with the conference theme. 

“It had to be a certain size, have colors that would match a gray, blue, or purple shirt and it had to portray a t

he theme of ‘refresh, renew, and reconnect’,” said Sink.

A few weeks after submitting her design, Sink received an email acknowledging she won the contest and was invited to attend the association’s conference in March and receive recognition from them. 

“I felt really honored and it made me feel really special,” said

 Sink, “It gave me a sense of hope that I will succeed in my hopeful career of graphic design.”

Winning this contest posed as a motivator for Sink as she grows her graphic design career at Christopher Newport University and continues to create graphic design work for other organizations.