Karen Calcaterra

After being pulled out of class, Amyra Taneja found out she had won the Healthy Public Contest. Taneja was one of 13 people to win the award across the St. Louis area. She will now be featured in St. Louis Public Health Department (DHP)’s calendar. “I was really surprised, I knew I had won, but I didn’t know how big of a deal it was. Especially when they told me a lot of people are actually able to understand and learn from my artwork,” Taneja said.

“One thing my mom had told me was, ‘accept the problem that’s happening because you can’t go back in the past and fix it, just find the solution and move past it,’” junior Amyra Taneja said.

This quote was the inspiration behind Taneja’s artwork that won her the 2024 Healthy Living Calendar Contest. The contest, held by the St. Louis Public Health Department, asked for artwork that promoted a healthy habit. 13 winners were chosen to be featured on their calendar, Taneja’s artwork will be displayed for April.

“When I made it, it was during October and the beginning of junior year was really hard for me. One thing my mom had told me was to accept the problem that’s happening and then find the solution and move past it. So I wanted to create something based on that line because I feel like it was really helpful for everyone,” Taneja said.

Originally, her artwork was not for the competition, it was an assignment for her art class.

“I was actually taking a class which is called Art and Design Applications in which you make posters for the school. It’s kind of like a marketing class. One of our assignments was to make a poster, so either way, I had to make it. Then my teacher submitted it to the Public Health Contest,” Taneja said.

Over 500 contestants entered the competition from all across the St. Louis area. Taneja ended up being one of the 13 winners. Out of all the selected candidates, she was the only one who created her piece digitally. This artwork is also one of her favorite digital pieces that she has ever made.

“[The contest judges] said mine was one that they could really relate to,” Taneja said.

Taneja started pursuing art early in her childhood and now, she can use her artistic abilities beyond just on paper.

“I do marketing for a robotics team. I do a lot of their marketing and outreach, so [I am able to] use my creativity for that as well,” Taneja said.

Even though she is very passionate about her artwork, Taneja doesn’t want to pursue an art career but rather wants to enter the medical field.

“I’m looking toward going into medicine or something with kids. I love doing art, but I don’t think I’d be able to make a living out of it. For that, You have to be like Picasso and I’m definitely not Picasso,” Taneja said.