Doodle 4 Google Makes Students the Inventors of a Better World

Earlier this year, Google invited students from around the US to share their version of a Google Doodle, this one with a specific forward-thinking theme: "If I Could Invent One Thing to Make the World a Better Place . . . " From the thousands of entries it received, Google selected 10 nominees across five school grade categories for the general public to vote on. That's one finalist from each of the 50 states!

Voting is open now through May 9 at 5 p.m. PDT to select the five national finalists from each age category. The overall winner, announced May 21, gets a pretty amazing prize — a $30,000 college scholarship, plus a $50,000 technology grant for their school, and the honor of being a Google Doodler when their art is featured on the Google homepage for an entire day.

Take a scroll below through examples of the 50 state student finalists, and then vote on your favorite doodle/world-changing idea.

K-3

K-3

Cloud Plow

"If I could invent one thing to make the world a better place… It would be a cloud plow. It can get rid of clouds to make it sunny out so people can use solar energy. It also can push the clouds to areas that need rain." — Vinessa Verheyen, Greenville Elementary, Wisconsin

4-5

4-5

Eco-Bot

"My eco-bot picks up trash and recycles it into the earth's greatest treasure, seeds, which keeps the earth's life cycle going." — Skye M. Howard, Lake Harbor Middle School, Louisiana

6-7

6-7

Underwater City

"This doodle is about inventions that allow us to live and move underwater. It includes tunnels for transportation and sea creatures." — Layla Lee, Park Junior High School, California

8-9

8-9

Tornado Sucker

"Each year, thousands of tornados hit around the world, taking many lives and billions of dollars. What I want to invent is a solar-powered machine that can harness tornadoes before they hit cities and take them to stations to transform them into electricity and water." — Lucy Zhu, Marquette High School, Missouri

10-12

10-12

Holographic Imagination

"This is a depiction of a holographic book. This projected image provides submersion into the text and further illumination of confusing topics. Holographic images would not be limited to children's stories. The users of technical books, cookbooks, and text books would also benefit greatly, sparking imagination and passion for learning." — Augusta Thacker, Westside High School, Nebraska