Two Eureka High School students will have their art worn by St. Louis County voters next year.
Sophomore Ady Vessells, 15, who lives in the Eureka area, and senior Kate Feeney, 18 of Wildwood each won first place in separate categories for this year’s “I Voted” sticker design contest.
Feeney’s sticker design will be professionally printed and handed out to voters on various election days in 2026.
Vessells’ “Future Voter” sticker design, complete with a bald eagle and fireworks, will be printed next year for children in St. Louis County. This is the first time the St. Louis County Board of Elections and St. Louis County Library, which organize the contest jointly, have held a future voters sticker design category.
Nearly 4,000 votes were cast in the 2025 sticker design contest, according to the Board of Elections. Other winners include Anna Garimella, a Crestview Middle School student who placed first in the sixth through eighth grade category, and Katherine Vogel of Manchester who won the 18 and older category.
Feeney’s “I Voted” sticker design shows a flock of birds flying over a river and rolling hills. She placed first in the high school design category, which was open to freshmen through seniors.
Feeney said she’s eager to vote for the first time in 2026 for several reasons.
“I just turned 18, and now I get to vote and get my sticker at the same time,” she said. “It makes me even more excited to vote in the next election because I’ll be seeing my own sticker on my shirt and then on random people’s shirts.”
Vessells said it’s a little nerve-wracking to have her art on public display.
“I don’t usually present my art very much, so this is new,” she said. “It’s a little outside of my comfort zone. I wasn’t expecting to be picked, and I wasn’t really thinking about how people would actually be wearing it.”
Art teacher Diane Bashirian said she is “immensely proud” of her students. She’s had her students submit their work in the contest in the past, but this is the first time any have won. Vessells and Feeney are in Bashirian’s art and design applications class.
“I was thrilled when I found out they both won,” Bashirian said. “I showed them past examples, which I think were helpful, and then we talked about how to be patriotic and show patriotism.”
Bashirian said her art and design applications class is about the real-world implementation of art. Her students help the school wherever needed, such as designing event programs and T-shirts and painting the senior class mural.
Left: Eureka High School sophomore Ady Vessells’ “Future Voter” sticker. Right: Eureka High School senior Kate Feeney’s “I Voted” sticker.
Behind the designs
Vessells said she created her bald eagle sticker design with colored pencils. Contestants could use a variety of art mediums, such as paint, marker or graphic design, to create stickers.
“The only prompt we were given was just a future voter sticker that you can hand out to kids,” Vessells said. “I didn’t really know what to go off of, so I started spit balling some patriotic ideas that kids can enjoy.”
Vessells said she’s interested in pursuing a career in firefighting and emergency medicine. She plans to attend South Technical High School next year for firefighting classes.
Feeney said she used alcohol markers and a pen for her design. She was inspired by St. Louis County’s abundant natural areas, like Castlewood State Park and the Meramec River. She intends to study art after she graduates from Eureka High in May.
One of Feeney’s recent pieces of art also was selected for the Rockwood School District’s annual digital holiday card. The design shows a reindeer inside a wintry-themed snow globe.
Superintendent Curtis Cain surprised Feeney during class with the news of her win.
Feeney said she’ll put the “I Voted” sticker and the holiday card in her art portfolio.
“Since I want to go to art school, this is a step toward the future,” she said.