Cary-Grove students take top prizes in safety poster contest
Metra formally announced recently the winners of its inaugural Safety Poster Contest, the latest initiative in the agency's aggressive safety campaign aimed at promoting railroad safety rules to keep children safe.
Cary-Grove High School students Stephanie Schmidt and Tori Poll won first prize for 11th and 12th grade, respectively.
Sophia Rogers of Westwood Elementary School, Woodstock, won first prize for second grade.
The Metra Safety Poster Contest was open to all children in kindergarten through twelfth grade in the six-county Northeastern Illinois region.
"The contest has been a complete success, and we could not be more pleased with the results," said Philip A. Pagano, Metra's executive director.
"Engaging students in our campaign to keep children safe is so important, and we are thrilled that so many students are playing their part in promoting safety by leading by example."
Participants in the Safety Poster Contest were asked to create a poster expressing this year's theme, "Lead by Example."
The theme calls attention to the important role each person plays in keeping all of us safe around trains and railroad tracks.
The winning entries will be featured in Metra station displays, and distributed to hundreds of schools in Northeastern Illinois in both English and Spanish.
The winning posters also will be featured in Metra's first-ever safety calendar.
At the meeting, the following participants were recognized as the contest's first-place winners: Johnnai Monroe, kindergarten, Amos Alonzo Stagg Elementary School; Christopher Reyes, first grade, Jose Clemente Orozco Community Academy; Sophia Rogers, second grade, Westwood Elementary School; Symone Flynn, third grade, Alice L. Barnard Elementary School; Amani Gaddy, third grade, Alice L. Barnard Elementary School; Lorena Flores, fourth grade, Hickory Bend Elementary School; Jacqueline Hardin, fifth grade, Alexander G. Bell Elementary School; Destiny Wilson, sixth grade, Amos Alonzo Stagg Elementary School; Alexis Dee, seventh grade, Central Park Elementary School; Mike Kelley, eighth grade, Central Park Elementary School; Peter Prindiville, ninth grade, St. Ignatius College Preparatory; Yael Derman, 10th grade, Chicagoland Jewish High School; Stephanie Schmidt, 11th grade, Cary-Grove High School; Tori Poll, 12th grade, Cary-Grove High School.
"I would like to thank all the educators and teachers who made this contest a priority in their schools," said Pagano.
"We appreciate the role they had in encouraging their students to participate and contribute to our effort of spreading safety awareness."
The difficult task of judging the hundreds of talented entries took place on June 15 at Metra's offices and resulted in 14 first place winners.
The judging panel, made up of representatives from Metra, county and local governments, safety advocacy groups, and the media, based their decisions on the poster's creativity, originality and representation of the contest theme.
The winners of the Safety Poster Contest will each receive a Hewlett-Packard notebook computer for their efforts to keep their peers safe and promote important railroad rules.
Second- and third-place winners receive $250 and $150 gift cards, respectively.
Due to the success of the inaugural Safety Poster Contest, Metra announced the installment of the contest as an annual event at its Aug.17 meeting.
The theme for the 2007-2008 contest will be "Play it Safe: Look, Listen, Live."
For details regarding the Safety Poster Contest or to view the first-, second-, and third-place winners, visit www.metracontest.com.