Students Win Drug-Free Poster Contest
The students are winners in the second annual Very Important Partner "VIP" Youth Poster Campaign, a contest sponsored and organized by the Partners In Prevention Coalition and Bullitt County Public Schools.
"The poster campaign celebrates a group of courageous students who serve as role models for our entire community, as well as their peers," said Jaime Goldsmith, Safe Schools Coordinator for the school district.
The 17 students featured on the movie posters participated in a long selection process that started last year, Goldsmith said.
To be considered, students had to be nominated by a teacher, principal or other community member who could speak to the student's potential as a role model. The 70 students who were nominated then had to turn in essays, references and information about their grades, attendance and behavior at school.
Of the initial group, 45 students were interviewed and 17 were chosen, Goldsmith said. This year, 11 additional students were invited to be in a group poster, she said.
"All of the kids are such great kids so it was really hard to choose so we came up with the idea of the group poster too," Goldsmith said.
While the students were selected last year, the celebration and unveiling of the posters was held Aug. 12 at Paroquet Springs Conference Centre.
At the celebration, those who nominated the winning students spoke about why they are good role models. Then the audience watched as Bullitt County Judge-Executive Melanie Roberts unveiled the students' posters.
"It just feels great to be called a role model," said Ben Harlan, 13. "I just love it. It's just an honor to be recognized that way."
Ben, an eighth-grader at Hebron Middle School, was a seventh-grader when his teacher Julie Werkmeister nominated him.
"He's everything I want Bullitt County students to be," Werkmeister said of Ben during the ceremony. "He makes positive choices and he's always aware of what's going on in the world."
Werkmeister spoke about Ben's plans to go into politics, saying she doesn't doubt he could be president someday.
After the ceremony, Ben and the other students sat at tables and signed posters for their friends and families. The rest of the posters will be hung up in buildings all over the county, Goldsmith said.
"It's exciting," Ben said of the posters. "It's good to talk about how you've chosen to be drug free because you want to live your dreams."
September 01, 2010
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