MT. JULIET, Tenn. (WTVF) — A hand-drawn artwork by a local 10-year-old is going somewhere a whole lot bigger than a refrigerator. Her work is becoming part of a county's story.
At Rutland Elementary in Mt. Juliet, 10-year-old Kairi Carona is getting rave reviews.
"Wooow! That looks good!" another student said, peering over at Kairi drawing a fish with a selection of chalk in bold colors.
The critics have spoken.
"I do like art," Kairi said. "I like it very much."
Some of those skills you can chalk up to an artist mom, tattoo artist Ailina Carona.
"We are a house full of artists!" Ailina said, speaking between working with a tattoo client.
Ailina's long-lasting permanent makeup and tiny tattoos at Third Coast Salt Day Spa.
"My mom's a tattoo artist, so I kinda wanna be that too," Kairi said.
"I love it," Ailina smiled. "That would be a dream for me for her to follow in my footsteps. She does tell people I'm a tattoo artist, so I know secretly she likes it. She thinks I'm cool!"
As artists, mom and daughter both love a new challenge.
Construction is underway now on the new Central Pike Elementary in Wilson County. With a new school comes a need for a new mascot design. The Wilson County school board had this idea: what if a student designed the new mascot?
"They could be as creative as they wanted to be," said Rutland Elementary art teacher LaShayn Jones, remembering presenting the project to the class. "We were asked to make it fun, make it animated."
"With that, she just ran with it," Ailina said.
Kairi got to work on what turned out to be the winning design: a smiling coyote with the school colors of blue and silver in her fur.
"I was shocked!" Kairi said of the win.
"We were so excited!" Ailina added. "We were like, 'I knew you could do it!'"
"Have you named your coyote anything?" I asked Kairi.
"Lulu," she answered.
A fine name for a coyote, indeed.
Creating something for the new school is especially cool for Kairi with what's happening in the next few days.
"We're actually moving to California, so my parents were like, 'well, you made a mark on Tennessee,'" she said.
"We love, love, loved living here, so it will always be part of our lives," Ailina said. "For her to have her stamp on Wilson County, it's really just a dream for her."
Before they go, Kairi has an offer.
"You gonna tattoo that on somebody?" I asked her as she held up her coyote picture.
"Would they want it?" Kairi answered.
"They might."
"I could tattoo on the principal of the school!" Kairi smiled.
Alright, new principal. Offers are out there.
Go Coyotes.
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
The line ''see something, say something" took on new meaning recently in Bowling Green. Two alert neighbors helped tip police to stolen Corvettes from the nearby assembly plant. That led law enforcement to find 8 stolen Corvettes worth over $1 million. We may all be able to learn a little lesson from this.
-Lelan Statom
