Phillips County artists awarded for efforts in Above the Influence campaign

On Tuesday night in Malta, nearly 50 people turned out to honor the 12 Phillips County students who were rewarded for their stellar art work during the Above the Influence Awards night at the Boy's and Girl's Club.

"I am really proud of all the entries in the Above the Influence Logo Contest," said Sonia Young, project coordinator for the Phillips County Coalition for Healthy Choices and director of the Boy's and Girl's Club. "

Some of the programs run by the Coalition include the Safe and Sober Driver Campaign, Prescription Take Back and Education and Be the Wall, a parent campaign to help curb underage drinking.

"You as parents are the first defense against youths drinking alcohol," Young said.

Carol Smith, executive director of the Boy's and Girl's Club and program for the Coalition of Healthy Choices talked about a new grant that the organization received titled Underage Drinking in Phillips County. She said that, according to statistics gathered from 2008 to 2010, Phillips County has a higher rate of alcohol related crashes than the state average. She said Phillips County also has a higher fatality rate in alcohol related crashes -- 23.53 per 100,000 people as compared to the state rate of 8.6 per 1,000 people.

"We have some things that we need to work on," Smith said. "It's not that we are a prohibitionist group at all. We just want our children to be safe. "

Smith said Phillips County ranks higher in all the categories for underage drinking than the state average. She encouraged parents to get involved in helping to stop underage drinking because it is a project that needs as much attention as possible.

"Just be clear, be firm and be consistent," she advised. "Be a wall and make Phillips County a safer place to live. Let's make this a safe county."

The prizes for the Above the Influence contest were purchased using monies from the Above the Influence Grant. Over 50 students participated in the project for the campaign inspires teens to be above the influence of drugs and alcohol. Young said the logo contest encouraged teens to share what inspires them to not use drugs or alcohol, focusing on original artwork. The students were given a blank logo – a circle with an arrow pointing up in the middle -- and were asked to decorate and design their logo using any medium of their choice.

Taking first place honors for their logo design in the Above the Influence contest were Victoria Adams, who is going into the seventh grade at Malta Middle School, Hannah Anderson, who enters eighth grade at Whitewater Middle School next year, Vanessa Mann, who will be in tenth grade at Malta High School and Alana Ostrom who will be a sophomore at Saco High School in the fall. Each of the first place winners received a Galaxy Tab 3 with a screen protector and a $50 gift card from Radio Shack

Ostrom said she came up with her design – in which she superimposed a picture of herself inside the arrow pointing up – by focusing on how drinking affects her and her friends.

"When you drink you can't make memories," she said. "If you are with your friends and you don't drink, you are making lasting memories that will stay with you forever."

She said she was exited to win a tablet and thought she would use it mostly to play games.

Mann said she spent about two hours drawing and coloring her logo design which depicted the doldrums of alcohol abuse at the bottom of the circle and brighter, more positive aspects of life at the top.

"I thought it would be cool to draw a road away from alcohol and happy on the top and not so happy on the bottom," she said.

She said she didn't think she would win first place and added that she is looking forward to doing "everything" on her tablet.

"Stay away from alcohol," Mann said as a parting quip.

Anderson's design, the most colorful of the first place entries, said that her design came about after brainstorming with her sister, Heidi.

"We pretty much stayed up until 10 o'clock at night thinking of ideas," she said. "We came up with the bad things on the bottom and good things on the top."

As part of the reward for placing in first through third place, winners also received backpacks with their designs emblazoned on them.

"It's neat," admitted Anderson. She added that she is looking forward to playing games on her tablet. "I think (my project) turned out really good. I didn't think I would win anything so I was very surprised."

The second place winners in the contest were Brita Giblette, who will be an eighth grade student at Malta Middle School, Teal Martell, who will be a junior this school year at White Water High School, Amanda Mummey, going into her senior year at Malta High School and Challise Young, who will be a freshman at Saco High School in the fall. For their second place honors, each of the contestants was awarded with a $100 gift card from Radio Shack.

Mummey said that her design – the circle peppered with broken bottles and the arrow depicting bright, cheerful colors – was happy with how her logo turned out and surprised by her second place finish.

"I used colored pencils," she said. "I don't usually like using colored pencils, but it turned out pretty nice."

She said that she planned to use the entire $100 gift certificate on headphones at Radio Shack.

Young, another second place finisher, said she enjoyed the project, but confessed she didn't think it would get chosen as top entry. She said that she, like Mummey, would also buy headphones, and maybe some batteries, with her gift card.

The third place winners in the logo contest were Emilie Carrillo who enters the eighth grade at Malta Middle School this year, Emmy Doucette, entering her senior year at Malta High School, Hope Lawless who will be a junior at Whitewater High School next year and Jada Sudbrach who will enter her freshman year at Saco High School in the fall.

The Boy's and Girl's Club meets during the summer from 1 p.m. until 5 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays and is open to all Phillips County children.