Finishing her junior year, Mayleigh Carter is vice president of Snake River High School's Future Farmers of America, plays for the Panthers' volleyball team and competes on the school's rodeo team.

Oh, and she's also going to have her award-winning painting hung in a hallway in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., this summer.

“They told me (the contest) was judged by a team of professional artists, and it wasn't just the congressman,” Carter said. “We also get two plane tickets to Washington, D.C., to see it when it gets hung.”

The congressman she speaks of is U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson, who was on hand for the 2nd Congressional District Art Competition at The Art Museum of Eastern Idaho in Idaho Falls last month. Each spring, the Congressional Institute sponsors the event in congressional districts throughout the U.S. A winner from each competition has their visual art hung in the U.S. Capitol.

Carter's painting, “Tied Down at the War Bonnet Rodeo,” was selected as this year's winner from the 2nd Congressional District.

“It's a painting of a tied-down horse tied to a calf,” Carter said. “I took a picture of the horse at the War Bonnet (Round Up) when we went last year.”

Alexa Stanger, executive director of The Art Museum of Eastern Idaho, said the competition is just one of the many programs at the museum that are part of its Young at ART program.

“At the end of our exhibit season, we have our Young at ART youth exhibit,” Stanger said. “All of the schools in the region are invited to participate, and each school is allowed to submit up to 36 pieces.”

As part of that exhibit, they also host the congressional competition. She estimates they had roughly 100 pieces for this year's exhibit. Stanger said the museum has hosted the competition for about 10 years, and the number of participants varies each year, adding that it's really up to the teachers at the individual schools as to whether and how many submissions they make. The exhibit will continue at the museum through this Saturday.

Stanger said the winning paintings are hung in the corridor that the representatives walk through each day on the way to their chambers.

“They are hanging one from each congressional district across the U.S.,” she said.

Carter said she loves to paint, something she picked up in recent years, adding that she's been drawing since she was very young.

“I have always drawn, but in the last seven or eight years I have been painting on and off,” she said. “Right now it's a hobby, but I want to be able to sell my paintings one day so people can hang them in their houses and enjoy them.”

But she's not interested in pursuing art as a career or studying it as a major in college. She's more interested in other things.

“I want to go into animal science,” she said. “Science is something I really enjoy. I really would enjoy doing anything in agriculture.”

Before she starts college, Carter wants to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Once that's complete, she wants to start with her core classes at Brigham Young University-Idaho before eventually transferring to Texas A&M.

“My dad went there and I just really love Texas,” she said.