May 14, 2007

Ask Westchester students to use their creative powers to draw or write about the perils of drugs and alcohol and you get an extraordinary, heart-felt response of posters and essays.

Winners in this year’s Drug Prevention and Stop-DWI poster and essay contests (and their parents and teachers) will be honored Tuesday, May 15 by County Executive Andy Spano.

The grand prize winner is Laura Martin, a 9th-grader at Pelham High School. She will be given a $500 U.S. Savings Bond and her poster will be duplicated and used as the official Drug Prevention and STOP-DWI poster for Westchester County this year. It will be displayed throughout the county and featured on the county’s website: www.westchestergov.com/stopdwi. It was selected from 375 entries.

Other winning students in the poster contest are from Yonkers, New Rochelle, Ossining and Pelham.

This year, once again the Office of Drug Prevention and STOP-DWI in conjunction with the Elks Association also sponsored an essay contest that addressed the same issues of drugs and alcohol. More than 50 middle and high school students participated and the winners were from Pleasantville, Rye, Pelham Manor, Yonkers and Cortlandt Manor.

“Each year I am taken aback by the incredible talent and creativity of so many of our students,” said Spano. “I thank all the students who submitted a poster and/or essay in this year’s contest and praise them for their hard work, dedication and commitment to helping get across the message of the dangers of drugs and alcohol.” 

The prizes are Savings Bonds ranging from $500 for the overall grand prize to $50, depending on the place in the various age categories: high school, middle school and elementary school. All those who entered either contest have been sent certificates of merit.

The posters and essays showed the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse. They were judged on their originality, clarity, presentation and message against drugs and DWI.

The 2007 Drug Prevention and STOP-DWI Poster and Essay contests were open to all Westchester students, grades K-12 and highlighted the theme of staying safe by refusing drugs and alcohol, and particularly showcasing the repercussions of drunk driving. Five judges from the Westchester community chose the winning posters from entries throughout the county. The winning entries will also be entered in the Elks Statewide contest. Last year, two students from Westchester were Statewide winners. Andrea Alverca from St. Anthony of Padua School in West Harrison was chosen as the First Place Poster Contest Winner in the Kindergarten Category and Cristina Guzman also from St. Anthony of Padua School was the Second Place Winner in the 1st to 2nd Grade category. Each of these students was presented with a $500.00 and $300.00 respectively US Savings Bond.

2007 STOP-DWI POSTER CONTEST WINNERS
GRAND PRIZE WINNER:  Laura Martin:  Pelham High School - Pelham

• Kindergarten
   FIRST PRIZE:  Kathleen Barran, Robert C. Dodson School – Yonkers
   SECOND PRIZE:  John Fuentes, Robert C. Dodson School – Yonkers
  

• 1-2 Grade
   FIRST PRIZE:  Jemima Morgan, Robert C. Dodson School – Yonkers
   SECOND PRIZE: Martin Alfaro,  Robert C. Dodson School – Yonkers

• 3-4 Grade
   FIRST PRIZE:  Mariela Martinez, Robert C. Dodson School – Yonkers
   SECOND PRIZE:  Emma Holtzman, Daniel Webster School – New Rochelle

• 5-8th Grade (Middle School)
   FIRST PRIZE:  Sydney Steinberg, Anne M. Dorner Middle School - Ossining
   SECOND PRIZE:  Jimmy Espinoza, St. Ann’s School – Ossining
   THIRD PRIZE:  Christina Rupp, Anne M. Dorner Middle School - Ossining

• 9-12th Grade (High School)
   FIRST PRIZE:  Tina Liu, Ossining High School - Ossining
   SECOND PRIZE:  Allee Manning, Pelham Memorial High School - Pelham
   THIRD PRIZE:  Brittany Geller, Pelham Memorial High School - Pelham

2007 STOP-DWI ESSAY CONTEST WINNERS

• 5-6 Grade FIRST PRIZE:  Stephanie Sabatini, Rye Country Day School -Rye
   SECOND PLACE:  Massimo D’Emilia, Pelham Middle School - Pelham

• 7-8th Grade
  FIRST PRIZE:  Dejenae Jackson, Mt. Pleasant Cottage School - Pleasantville
  SECOND PRIZE:  Teresa Daly, St. Paul the Apostle School - Yonkers
  
• 9-12th Grade
  FIRST PRIZE:  Thomas Califra, John F. Kennedy High School  - Somers
  SECOND PRIZE:  Nina Guadalupe, Mt. Pleasant Cottage School - Pleasantville