Metra Announces Student Winners of its Fifth Annual Safety Contest

Metra has announced the winners of its annual Safety Contest, designed to promote and reinforce railroad safety to keep children safe around trains. Reaching record numbers, this year’s campaign drew participation from more than 5,000 students from nearly 250 schools throughout the region (full list of winners below). 

Each year, Metra’s Safety Contest invites students in grades K-12 throughout it six county service area to submit poster and essay entries highlighting the importance of railroad safety.  This year’s contest theme was “Safety First: Look, Listen and Live.” Tasked with selecting the winners were a panel of 20 judges, including government officials, representatives from safety and education advocacy groups, business and community leaders, members of the media and Metra representatives. Additionally, 600 members of the public participated in the Safety Poster Contest “People’s Choice Award” voting at displays at each of Metra’s downtown commuter stations.

“Nothing is more important to Metra than keeping children – and the public – safe,” said Alex Clifford, Metra CEO. “I would like to commend each and every person who participated in the safety campaign for their leadership – parents and schools who share safety lessons with children, our panel of judges and commuters who helped select the winners, and most importantly, the students who participated in the contest, learning what they can do to keep themselves and others safe around trains.”

The first-place poster designs will be featured as safety posters and distributed to more than 2,000 schools in Northeastern Illinois. The posters will also be featured in station displays, in Metra’s 2012 safety calendar, on monthly tickets and on Metra’s contest website and Facebook page. Winning safety essays will also be featured in the safety calendar, the Metra contest website and Facebook page.

First-, second- and third-place winners were chosen from each grade level for the Metra Safety Poster Contest. One winner from each grade group – elementary school, middle school and high school – was chosen for the Safety Essay Contest. First-place poster and essay contest winners receive a laptop computer, while second- and third-place poster contest winners receive $250 and $100 gift cards, respectively. The “People’s Choice Award” winner receives a $250 gift card. Metra also recognizes the school with the most entries submitted in the poster contest. The top participating school also receives a computer.

The annual contest would not be possible without the support of its sponsors whose contributions help Metra defray the costs of the contest prizes as well as the production of the safety posters. This year’s contest sponsors include the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad and Hubbard Radio, owners of Chicago radio stations 97.1 FM The Drive, 100.3 Chicago’s Rewind and 101.9 The Mix.

In addition, the Illinois Commerce Commission’s PEERS Grant program helps cover the costs of campaign outreach and the production of the safety posters and calendars.

To date, campaign outreach efforts include the distribution of more than one million safety posters, 10,000 Metra Safety Calendars and more than two million pencil kits to schools throughout the region. The organization also operates a Facebook page and a website, available in both English and Spanish, to educate students and reinforce safety rules. The website has garnered millions of hits and the Facebook page interacts with hundreds of students, teachers and parents on a day-to-day basis.

“We are committed to doing everything we can to ensure safety is foremost when people are on or around trains,” Clifford said. “We could not be more proud of the role the poster and essay contest has played as the cornerstone of our campaign to raise the level of awareness of train safety throughout northeast Illinois.”

First-place contest winners will be honored at Metra’s regular monthly meeting of its Board of Directors on Friday, August 12, 2011. Information about the campaign along with all of the Safety Contest winners is available at www.metracontest.com and www.facebook.com/MetraContest.

The following students were chosen as the 2010-2011 Safety Poster Contest’s first-place winners:

• Ye Bin Park, Kindergarten, The Art School in Glenview, Glenview
• Emily Wang, First Grade, Holmes Primary School, Westmont
• Adrien Mehra, Second Grade, White Eagle Elementary School, Naperville
• Giselle Garcia, Third Grade, Joseph E. Gary Elementary School, Chicago
• Sam Cangialosi, Fourth Grade, St. Maria Goretti School, Schiller Park
• Jasmine Meza, Fifth Grade, Winnebago Elementary School, Bloomingdale
• Maggie Caplice, Sixth Grade, McClure Junior High School, Western Springs
• Madison Kasbaum, Seventh Grade, Hickory Creek Middle School, Frankfort
• Alexis Zwerenz, Eighth Grade, Kimball Middle School, Elgin
• Benito Galvez, Ninth Grade, Woodstock High School, Woodstock
• Danny Caplice, Tenth Grade, Lyons Township High School, Western Springs
• Youna Jang, Eleventh Grade, James B. Conant High School, Hoffman Estates
• Grant Parry, Twelfth Grade, Cary-Grove High School, Cary

The following students were chosen as the 2010-2011 Safety Poster Contest’s second place winners:

• Samantha Chen, Kindergarten, Copeland Manor School, Green Oaks
• Aliza Olivares, First Grade, Richard E. Byrd Elementary School, Burbank
• Jeremy Krause, Second Grade, Robert Crown Elementary School, Wauconda
• Alec Renwick, Third Grade, Wegner Elementary School, West Chicago
• Michael Ibarra, Fourth Grade, Nathanael Greene Elementary School, Chicago
• Ally Vonderheide, Fifth Grade, Millennium Elementary School, Tinley Park
• Anna Lipkind, Sixth Grade, The Art School in Glenview, Northbrook
• Matt Stockmal, Seventh Grade, Clarendon Hills Middle School, Hinsdale
• Molly Miklosz, Eighth Grade, McClure Junior High School, Western Springs
• Fred Mohr III, Ninth Grade, Victor J. Andrew High School, Orland Park
• Kristin Chapman, Tenth Grade, Cary-Grove High School, Cary
• Chelsie Tamms, Eleventh Grade, Cary-Grove High School, Cary
• Brittany Ippolito, Twelfth Grade, Cary-Grove High School, Fox River Grove

The following students were chosen as the 2010-2011 Safety Poster Contest’s third place winners:

• Anika Paranjape, Kindergarten, White Eagle Elementary School, Naperville
• Trinity Contreras, First Grade, Robert Crown Elementary School, Port Barrington
• Selena Gonzalez, Second Grade, Norman Bridge Elementary School, Chicago
• Caitlin Nelligan, Third Grade, Chelsea Intermediate School, Frankfort
• Jorge Casas-Melchor, Fourth Grade, Richard E. Byrd Elementary School, Burbank
• Alecia Corey, Fifth Grade, Cumberland Elementary School, Des Plaines
• Toni DiPrima, Sixth Grade, Lincoln Middle School, Mount Prospect
• Maria Guadalupe Garcia, Seventh Grade, Elk Grove Junior High School, Des Plaines
• Kelsey Hucker, Eighth Grade, Antioch Upper Grade School, Antioch
• Joshua Andrew Moy, Ninth Grade, Deerfield High School, Deerfield
• Wyatt May, Tenth Grade, Cary-Grove High School, Cary
• Lexxi Hurley, Eleventh Grade, Plainfield East High School, Plainfield
• Brionne Bell, Twelfth Grade, McHenry West High School, McHenry

The following student was chosen as the Safety Poster Contest’s “People’s Choice Award” winner:

• Adrien Mehra, Second Grade, White Eagle Elementary School, Naperville

The following school submitted the most entries in the Safety Poster Contest:

• Grand Prairie Elementary School, Frankfort

The following students were chosen as the Safety Essay Contest’s first-place winners:

• Emily Wisinski, Fourth Grade, Mokena Intermediate School, Mokena
• Zach Erickson, Eighth Grade, Kimball Middle School, Elgin
• Audrey Collard, Ninth Grade, Crystal Lake South High School, Crystal Lake