GM FYI Blog

By The UAW Local 95 / GM Janesville Assembly Team

Picasso once said that all children are artists. And we here at the Janesville Assembly Plant in Wisconsin know how true that is. We just held an art competition for the 1,500 elementary school children in the School District of Janesville, and the pieces of art we received were colorful, creative, spontaneous, thoughtful and true.

The theme of the competition was “Working Together to Protect Precious Places.” The children were given the choice of an Earth Day theme or an ethanol fuel theme. Twenty-six drawings were chosen (incredibly hard to choose), magnified and superimposed on a 2007 Chevrolet Tahoe built right here at the plant. General Motors then donated the E85-capable, flexible-fuel vehicle to the Nature Conservancy of Wisconsin to help them with their rugged conservation work.

One of the submissions we received was from 8-year-old Abby Hughes of Adams Elementary School. Abby had no idea that her drawing of the earth was a winner until one morning in class she heard it announced over the loudspeaker. She said she was so excited. For Abby, the best part was the unveiling ceremony held at our Education Service Center. The kids got to rip off the paper that was covering the car. Abby said it was “really cool,” because it looked exactly like the drawing she had turned in, “the colors and everything, expect it was on the car.”

We think this was a wonderful way to be part of our community. The full-size SUV was built here in Janesville (Abby’s grandfather, two uncles and an aunt all work at the plant), the students live here in Janesville, and the Nature Conservancy is tremendously active here. We feel that this was truly “local” and yet reverberates globally. That’s what community is, and that’s who we are here in Janesville.