Two Pahrump Valley High Students Earn Honors in Governor's Art Challenge

Pahrump Valley High School's art program placed two works at the Governor's Mansion in Carson City after junior Mikayla Pasion and freshman Marely Gomez each earned Honorable Mention recognition in Governor Joe Lombardo's Multimedia Challenge, a statewide competition designed to celebrate Nevada's landscapes and cultural identity.

The selections represent two of the five entries PVHS submitted to the competition, an unusually strong showing for a single school from a rural district. Pasion, an 11th grader, submitted a watercolor titled "Giving a Hand to the Future." Gomez, a 9th grader, contributed an acrylic piece called "Sunset in Death Valley." Both works will be on display at the Governor's Mansion as part of Lombardo's multimedia showcase.

The subject matter Gomez chose connects directly to the geography surrounding Pahrump. Death Valley is one of the defining landscapes of the region, and its appearance in a statewide competition judged at the level of the governor's office gives the work an added local resonance.

For a school art program operating in a rural district, where arts funding and visibility often lag behind larger urban schools, the recognition carries weight beyond the two students themselves. A showing at the Governor's Mansion gives arts education advocates in Nye County a concrete example to cite when making the case for program resources. Statewide exposure also strengthens student portfolios at a moment when Pasion and Gomez are still early in their high school careers, with scholarship applications and college admissions on the horizon.

The school's social postings credited both students by name and highlighted the Governor's Mansion display. PVHS submitting five entries and seeing two selected points to a program producing work that holds up in statewide competition, not just within the county.