Ciana Nolasco represented Federal Way at the Kids Cheer Sign Art Contest hosted by Kaiser Permanente.

The contest was created to help support the athletes in the Special Olympics teams, particularly Team Washington, during the 2018 USA Games held July 1-6 in Seattle and Federal Way.

Ciana, 13, has been drawing as long as she can remember. She became really interested in the contest after seeing what her sister Callista drew for it.

“Then I read into the Special Olympics, and I really liked the idea of the Special Olympics so then I decided to do my own drawing,” she said.

Ciana’s mother, Leslie Nolasco, said Ciana had always been an artist, and this event gave her a chance to focus on her individual style.

“It’s always been fun for her to look at something and be able to duplicate it and recreate it,” she said.

Ciana said she would like to pursue activities like this in the future if the opportunity arises again.

Entries from all over the state came in for the contest. Six winners were chosen within the two categories: most inspirational and best use of sports images.

Ciana was selected as a winner in the best use of sports images category from 13-17 year-olds.

According to an online backgrounder for the event, “Kaiser Permanente held the Cheer Sign Art Contest to help introduce the 2018 Special Olympics USA Games and the Special Olympics organization to our members and the larger community.”

The winners were selected by Kaiser Permanente staff, Special Olympics athletes, staff, parents and coaches after narrowing down the list of three dozen finalists. The winners received tickets to the opening ceremonies for the games, and a commemorative pin from Kaiser Permanente thanking them for their participation.