Palm Beach County Students Are Greeted With Positive Underage Drinking Prevention Messages In Their School Buses
For the first time, Palm Beach County students riding the bus this week were greeted with colorful, positive underage drinking prevention messages inside their buses. Project SMART partnered with the Acreage Loxahatchee Rotary Club to present the Alcohol Prevention Poster Contest to invite county students to give their peers a positive alcohol abuse prevention message.
The Awards Ceremony to honor the winners, recently, took place in the Central Bus Compound in West Palm Beach. Student Intervention Services in the Department of Safe Schools developed Project SMART to address the issues of underage drinking in Palm Beach County schools.
“Approximately 500 entries were submitted from Palm Beach County students and 3000 people participated in the online voting. The response from the students, teachers and community has been overwhelming,” said Linda Salzman, Project Manager.
As a result, Palm Beach County students riding school buses are greeted with positive underage drinking prevention banners appearing on the inside of their buses. These new, educational decals were the culmination of the contest inviting all students to design an anti-alcohol message.
Each student created a poster that included a fact about alcohol and a positive message to encourage students to stay alcohol free. Wellington resident Talia Fradkin’s poster depicted alcohol and memory loss. Her message was simple, “Stay Sober.”
“Alcohol is dangerous, especially to young people. They don’t realize how it can negatively impact their life. It can affect their health and their emotions,” stated Fradkin.
Project SMART Manager, Linda Salzman, Alexa Lee, Lauren Steele, Lavidah Johnsons, the award winners, and a dedicated group of about 90 volunteers helped place the winning entry decals in approximately 1,000 school buses. In addition, each winner received $100.
The winners of the Project SMART Alcohol Prevention Poster Contest are:
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ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS |
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| Alicia Torres | 3rd grade | Meadow Park Elementary |
| Samantha Licciardi | 4th grade | Manatee Elementary |
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MIDDLE SCHOOLS |
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| Talia Fradkin | 7th grade | Atrium School (Private) |
| Victoria McKee | 7th grade | Independence Middle |
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HIGH SCHOOLS |
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| Kyle Maglietta | 10th grade | Seminole Ridge Community High |
| Mia Fielding | 10th grade |
South Tech Academy |
Project SMART Awards Ceremony Pictures
The Department of Safe Schools developed Project SMART to implement a comprehensive strategic plan involving teens, parents, schools, and the community. The goals of the project are to increase the number of youth believing that alcohol use is harmful to their health; increase student’s disapproval of alcohol use; and decrease the number of minors who binge drink.
For more information, contact Alexa Lee, Project SMART Coordinator at (561) 494-1546 or via e-mail at Alexa.Lee@palmbeach.k12.fl.us.
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Public Affairs Contact: Natalia Arenas – (561) 357-7662 – arenasn@palmbeach.k12.fl.us
