Three years in, and college junior Amy Arnold is still doing her best to represent Washington.

Arnold, who graduated from Washington High School in 2015 and now attends North Carolina State University, recently created the winning T-shirt design for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Alumni and Friends contest.

With a theme of “Growing the Extraordinary,” Arnold designed an image of the beloved Wolfpack hand symbol growing out of a plant base — a mixture of school spirit and the horticulture she loves.

“I’ve designed T-shirts in the past. I’ve designed a T-shirt for when … Beaufort County used to do an agriculture day for the high schools in the county, and I did that when I was a senior in high school, so I just figured I would try my hand in this T-shirt design contest,” Arnold explained.

Arnold said she submitted several designs in the contest, all with the same idea but differing slightly.

“All I could think about was how our education develops us as students and individuals,” she said. “Since this is the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and since this is a beloved, you know, symbol for the college, the university, I was like it would be really cool to have that coming out of a plant like it was growing.”

While Arnold doesn’t have a Facebook page, she said it is amazing to hear how a student spotlight story based around her winning design was shared on the internet and social media. The support from her hometown is something for which she is thankful.

“I wouldn’t wish to have grown up anywhere else,” Arnold said in the student spotlight article. “Going to a university with more students than my hometown’s population was quite an adjustment. Being the adventurous social butterfly I am, I loved the opportunities found on State’s campus.”

Arnold continues to flourish at N.C. State, studying landscape design, and with roots in a horticulture- and/or agriculture-based area, she is using what she knows to shape her future.

“It’s been so inviting and it’s just been amazing. I’ve loved, you know, doing the landscape concentration. All of my professors have been great. The courses that I get to take, I’ve been really interested in,” Arnold said. “It is a thriving environment.”

T-shirts are $25, and proceeds go toward CALS scholarships. For more information, email ndclemmo@ncsu.edu, or call 919-515-7222.