PANHANDLE, TX – Olivia Horner, a recent graduate of Panhandle High School, has been selected as a winner in the 2021 Don’t mess with Texas Scholarship Contest. Olivia was awarded a $2,000 college scholarship which she will apply toward her field of study in Business at Texas A&M University.

The Don’t mess with Texas Scholarship Contest is presented annually in partnership with Keep Texas Beautiful and recognizes students who are taking an active role in litter-prevention at their school or in their community. A total of $9,000 in scholarships was awarded to three high school seniors. The 2021 scholarships was sponsored by Buc-ee’s and iHeartMedia.

Olivia was selected for the scholarship based on her clean-up effort in the North Heights neighborhood in Amarillo, Texas. Approaching friends, family and area businesses, she gathered a truck, trailer and volunteers. She spent a day cleaning up the area and making numerous trips to a landfill to dispose of mattresses, furniture, tires, wood and other debris that was littering the neighborhood. She and her team of volunteers collected more than 3,500 pounds of trash during the eight hour clean-up which covered over 80 city blocks.

Don’t mess with Texas has been educating Texans about litter prevention since 1986. The campaign is the signature initiative for TxDOT’s litter prevention programs which include Adopt-a-Highway, a grassroots partnership with Keep Texas Beautiful and the community outreach and cleanup event — the Don’t mess with Texas Trash-Off. For additional information on Don’t mess with Texas, visit dontmesswithtexas.org.

For media inquiries, contact TxDOT Media Relations at [email protected] or (512) 463-8700.